Reversal of Roles
by Ranowa Hikura
Summary: Obito didn't push Kakashi out of the way during the Battle at Kannabi Bridge. This one change eventually leads to Godaime Naruto being sent back in time with the leader of the Akatsuki- Kakashi. They arrive at the day of Naruto's Academy graduation, and Naruto must work with the man he hates the most to stop war from happening. Time travel, AU, Kakanaru friendship.
1. Arc One: Recovery Period

Okay… this is my first time travel fic. I've had ideas for it for a long time, and now that I'm finally typing it out, I am so excited. The only pairings I can think of are MinKush and ObiRin; there may be others, the main thing is no KakaNaru. No Kakashi/anybody or Naruto/anybody, really, but the focus IS Kakashi and Naruto friendship.

Other story info: I've already written out a plot outline for myself, so I know that this story will have five arcs. I have written the entire first arc- Recovery Period. ...It's called that for lack of a better name, honestly, it's not them just lying around sleeping. I'm telling you this now because- well, it seems pertinent somehow.

Well... enjoy!

* * *

It was warm.

Warm and quiet.

After weeks and months at war, such a calming silence and an absence of the heat of battle and jutsu were enough to dull Naruto's senses into content. But this happiness was short-lived, because there was no reason for the sudden change. Not when all he remembered was acrid smoke, blood, and screams of agony.

Naruto kept his eyes closed and released a calming exhale. Something must of happened; he just had to remember. He could recall for him and his team preparing for what, one way or another, would be their final encounter with the Akatsuki. And then…

Naruto winced when he remembered the battle turning against them. No matter what he and his friends were capable of, the inhuman fiends of the Akatsuki were always one step ahead of them. They had fought on for hours, and Naruto had been forced to watch his loved ones and his village fall to those eight horrific ninja. So many of his friends were dead and it just _hurt_ to remember them. The moments of their deaths felt burned into his mind and he winced again, biting down on his lip to stop himself from crying out.

No, there was more. Something else that was important, that he had to remember. He could remember his sensei being there until the very end. Sasuke and Sakura, too, and their faces stood out in his mind. Sakura's was wrought with devastation, friend after friend dying under her hands as she fought to save them and failed, because it was always too late- the Akatsuki fought to kill, not maim, and by the time the bodies came to her, they were already dead. Her furious screams and massive punches had taken down more than one mountain in their path, thrown up by mutant plant creature Zetsu, but her verdant eyes told the truth- that she would never, _never_ be able to forget watching her friends die in her arms.

Then, there was Sasuke. Furious and enraged, fighting with a power that Naruto had never before seen, because… because of _him_. The leader of the Akatsuki had been there, within their reach, for the first time since the beginning of the war- and Sasuke's dreams were within his grasp. The Uchiha had risked everything to reach the man but he had failed, in the end, expression written in an unearthly hatred and fury as he fought on until his last breath.

Naruto shuddered again.

But there was also his sensei. He was dying, Naruto remembered that clearly, he was crawling through smoke and ash and choking on his own blood, struggling to reach where Naruto had been fighting the leader of the Akatsuki. And losing. Badly.

His sensei had so clearly been devastated, and his horrified look had been one Naruto was sure would haunt him forever. Tears had streamed down his dirty cheeks and Naruto could just remember him crying out to him, begging one last request with his dying breaths as everything twisted and blurred, seeming to swirl directly out of the man's crimson eye.

"_Go back, Naruto! …Go back and save him!" _

Naruto sat bolt upright.

His eyes opened to a small clearing, sunlight filtering down from above. It was the first time he had truly _seen_ the sun in so many months; the sky was usually obscured by the smoke of war- and it was just as bright and beautiful as he remembered. The soft grass beneath him was clean and natural- not smeared with blood or guts or gore, and he rubbed his torn feet up against it and relished in the slight pain it brought, amazed that he could finally set foot to ground again and not step on death. He strained his ears and heard nothing but a soft breeze, no horrified screams and no deathly cries, and smiled. He tentatively sniffed and was almost overcome by the fact that he wasn't faced with the scent of war but the smell of the forest, so much like the one he had often played in as a child.

It was such a relief he almost wanted to cry.

Naruto forced back a swell of emotion by remembering all who were dead and his sensei's dying words. He wasn't a child anymore; he had responsibilities. If the war truly was over, he had to find out how and what was going to happen now. For the world was not going to just right itself after so long of teetering on the brink of destruction.

That, and he had to find out what his sensei meant. Go back? How, where- and who? Save _who?_

The blond tried to raise a hand to rub his eyes, then gasped. He couldn't move. He couldn't move his hands! He fought automatically, straining his body while he looked down to examine his restraints. He was tied tightly to a tree, thick ropes binding him against wood, soaked through with his own blood in places and, when he looked closer, embroidered with seals. He recognized them as Chakra-suppressing seals, and good ones, at that- their quality and their number made sure he wouldn't be escaping any time soon.

"Done feigning sleep, finally?"

Naruto's writhing came to an abrupt halt.

That cold voice…

_No…_

He twisted his head in disbelief to stare at the speaker. His eyes widened, and he felt bile rise in his throat. All previous elation at awakening to something other than a war-torn world drained away in an instant, and he felt horribly cold, sick to his stomach, because this- this right in front of him was the one thing worse than continuing war.

They had _lost_ the war.

His eyes slowly moved up the dark form sitting across the clearing. The enemy's thin body was hidden beneath velvety black robes, scarlet clouds outlined in white drifting across the fabric like oversized drops of blood. One half-gloved hand rested on his knee while the other braced himself against the ground, the high collar cutting off just above the neck but dark mask continuing on. His long silver hair swept about his head in a defiance to follow the natural laws of gravity, making him look almost half-wolf, half-beast. His hair half-obscured his eyes, one a plain cobalt, the other a wicked crimson bisected by a vicious scar.

Naruto's hands clenched into fists, and he felt himself overtaken by such a violent hatred he actually snarled. The feral expression almost seemed to amuse the other man, who tilted his head to the side and narrowed his eyes. "What?" he taunted. "Is the caged beast going to kill me? Go ahead; growl again. I'm positively terrified."

Naruto strained against his ropes once more, baring his teeth and fighting while the Akatsuki just watched. "You _bastard!_" he hissed, meeting his mismatched gaze without fear and finding himself struck by the urge to rip his eyes out of his head. "You _fucking bastard!_ Where are we?! What have you done?!"

Kakashi gave an unamused chuckle, the sound low and throaty and laced with a sadistic intent to kill that had made lesser men run for fear of their lives. "The question you should be asking is not where, but _when_. And if you're so upset because of that, why don't you call your sensei a fucking bastard? He's the one responsible for this."


	2. Arc One 2

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* * *

_Kakashi gave an unamused chuckle, the sound low and throaty and laced with a sadistic intent to kill that had made lesser men run for fear of their lives. "The question you should be asking is not where, but when. And if you're so upset because of that, why don't you call your sensei a fucking bastard? He's the one responsible for this."_

Naruto glowered at the silver-haired man in the fading light, fists clenched so tight his fingernails cut into his palm. They bled, staining the ropes, and Kakashi just continued to stare at him.

"If you," he whispered, voice low and shaking with indescribable anger, "insult Obito-sensei, I will kill you. You _never_ say one bad word about him, you hear?!"

His words were icy cold and his eyes burned with hate, but Kakashi remained bored and indifferent through it all. "You are not in any situation to be making threats, Godaime Hokage," he murmured, lightly brushing a strand of thick hair away from his mismatched eyes. "Certainly not idle ones. But anyway, I was under the impression you were _already _going to kill me. What are you going to do to me if I don't let you go? Kill me twice?"

Kakashi's words were dripping with sarcasm and Naruto snarled, a low, guttural sound from his throat, and his heart thrummed with hatred. He had never hated anyone as much as he hated Kakashi in that moment, and being this close to him and seeing him still breathe was almost too much.

Naruto took a breath and bit down on his lip, trying not to scream. "_Why_," he managed, "am I alive?! Why did you not kill me?!"

Kakashi raised one pale eyebrow and hummed thoughtfully. "That is a good question," he said at length, then shrugged. "Maa, I suppose I thought you might be amusing to listen to. I have some time until my injuries heal up and I can leave, so until then, I might as well have some company. If you want me to kill you now, by all means, tell me- I'm not adverse to that either." His two eyes curved upwards in a wicked approximation of a smile, and Naruto thrashed against his bindings again.

"I will _kill_ you," he promised, voice trembling under the weight of repressed fury. "I will kill you for what you have done."

"Really?" Kakashi didn't even appeal remotely interested, not even twitching from his spot of lounging against a tree. "What have I done to you, Naruto?" His voice seemed morbidly curious, like he knew exactly what Naruto's problem was with him but just wanted to hear him say it.

Naruto hated himself for answering the bastard's question, but he hated Kakashi far more. "You sick fuck, you know what you've done. You ruined Sasuke's life- you _killed_ him! Obito-sensei and Rin-oneechan and Tou-san, do you have any idea what you put them through?! You killed Lee and Neji and Kiba and Sai and you _destroyed my village!_ You have hurt everyone I have ever loved! There is no form of punishment painful enough for the likes of you, but I swear that you _will_ pay for what you've done!"

Kakashi just kept staring at him throughout his screaming outburst. His two eyes were narrow and tired, and he hadn't even flinched once throughout the accusations, or even tried to deny it. Naruto was panting by the end of it and shaking with unrestrained rage and hatred and Kakashi just _sat_ there, untouched and bored by it all.

The man was so infuriating and Naruto gritted his teeth, eyes straying down to his covered throat. He thought of how nice it would be to tear through his skin and strangle him to death, watch what little of his pathetic face he could see turn blue.

He wanted him to _die_.

"Hmm… all things I have done to those close to you, then. That is why you hate me?" Kakashi paused, then shook his head in disgust. "Your sensei preached what he did not practice, I see. And your father-"

"_Don't you dare insult them!_"

Kakashi fell silent, and his eyes finally betrayed a hint of anger, emotion. He stared at Naruto for a long moment, the blond so furious he was seeing red. He strained again against the ropes, wishing nothing more than to carve that bastard's heart out of his chest just to see it stop beating. "Don't you _dare_ talk about my sensei and my father!" His enraged scream echoed about the clearing, startling a flight of birds into flapping up and away in a flutter of wings. "You… you have no _idea_…" His heart throbbed painfully, and suddenly he felt so _betrayed_, so betrayed and hurt and furious and he found himself having to blink back tears. So much of what he'd been told felt like a lie, now, a horrid lie-

"Are you crying?"

Naruto stiffened, then blinked abruptly dry eyes and glared at the Akatsuki leader. "Go to hell."

Kakashi laughed quietly. "I see Obito taught his students his crybaby ways, too. How pathetic."

"_Stop talking about him!_"

"Why?" Kakashi tilted his head to the side and stared at him, piercing, mismatched gaze light with a false amusement. "He sent us back in time together. _He_ failed to kill me before I killed your friends. _He_… aah. Do you wonder, Naruto, why he sent us back together? He could have sent me back alone. Perhaps he wanted to abandon you, like he aban-"

"Don't. You. _Dare_. Finish that sentence."

"Hmm?"

Breathing heavily amidst his fury, Naruto shut his eyes tightly and thought of his sensei. His friends. His loved ones- all in another time. He pictured their smiling faces and refused to think of Kakashi's masked one, refused to picture what he wanted to smash and pulverize. If this fucking bastard tried to corrupt his memories of them-

No. He would not let Kakashi succeed. Naruto didn't know how, and he didn't know when, but this man would pay for what he had done.

"I'm done speaking to you," he announced, voice carefully flat with a fake stoicism his father had taught him to put on when he was so angry he couldn't think. "You're not worth anyone's time. All you're doing is spitting upon the names of my precious people. I'll kill you someday, but until that day comes, I won't speak to you."

"…Have it your way, then."

Kakashi's voice was oddly flat, almost just like Naruto's was. He ignored that. That bastard had learned nothing from his Minato.

One thing he had said, though, rang true.

Why had Obito sent them back in time together?

_Go back, Naruto! Go back and save him!_

Of all the times for Obito to be vague…

_Save who, Sensei? Save who?_

* * *

Naruto managed to keep true to his promise to not speak to Kakashi until well after night had fallen. The Akatsuki leader was possibly asleep, he couldn't tell- his silver hair had been hiding his eyes for sometime now. His thoughts had been determinedly focused on how he was going to free himself ever since he had fallen silent, and it had taken him about three seconds to come up with a solution.

But he remembered what his father and his sensei had taught him, and decided to bide his time. Escaping _now_ would put him at the full mercy of the Akatsuki leader, the man who could attack with just one eye. They were both injured from that last fight before Obito had lifted them out of their time, and Naruto had no wish to fight Kakashi until he could do more than glare at him.

When Naruto had just decided to be content- barely- to wait to put his plan into action, the man that he had previously assumed to be asleep stiffly raised his right arm. It was the only part of him that moved, but it did so with a fluid grace and beams of wood exploded out from the hem of his baggy sleeve, twisting up and around them to form a makeshift house. It was plain as could be, though still furnished at least barely- for heaven's sake, a couch sprouted up directly underneath Kakashi's lounging form. It wasn't anywhere near as good as Yamato's work- but thoughts of Yamato made him remember the wood user as he had last seen him, eyes squeezed tight in agony as Sakura sobbed out apologies and sliced off his irrevocably damaged hand with a Chakra scalpel.

Naruto shuddered, and decided not to think about that.

He glowered at the Akatsuki member instead, who let his arm down easily and silently, still without moving any part of his body. The whole procedure had been eerily quiet; Kakashi hadn't made a sound throughout the whole thing. He remembered the tension in Yamato's face when he used Mokuton, the slight hissing sound as wood bent and molded to his will-

_Stop thinking about him, Naruto! _

Kakashi shifted at his glare, finally moving a part of his body other than his arm. He raised his head to stare right back at him, still trussed up firmly to the tree that stood in the middle of the house. "I smelled someone coming. it's a lot less suspicious to see a house in the middle of the woods than to see the likes of me and the fifth Hokage tied to a tree."

Naruto rolled his eyes, opened his mouth, then remembered his vow of silence and looked away. Not without one more venomous glare in the bastard's direction, though.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Kakashi shift onto his side and pillow his head on his arm. His eyes were once again hidden by his hair, and Naruto was beginning to think that it was on purpose.

Shaking his head, Naruto focused on himself again. He breathed in and out, taking stock of his injuries. His Chakra was extremely low, and it would take even longer than usual for it to replenish itself with all those seals. That just meant the first five minutes after his escape would be crucial. He could also feel broken bones, vicious bruises- but he was nowhere near as badly hurt than when his sensei had used his eye to bring them back in time.

_His kamui vortex must be laced with Chakra, _he mused thoughtfully. Some of the energy had probably gone into him and healed a few of his worse, internal injuries.

That probably held true for Kakashi as well, though.

Naruto sent another dark look at the Akatsuki leader and frowned. If he was going to kill the bastard that had destroyed his village, he was going to have to be at the top of his game. He'd have to run to hide and recover his Chakra somewhere- _then_ make his move.

Obito's last request niggled at the back of his mind again. Who did he want him to save?

…Sasuke. It had to be Sasuke.

Sasuke, who had died fighting against _K__akashi_, apologizing to his brother with his last breaths for failing to avenge him. Naruto closed his eyes and bowed his head, heart throbbing in protest at another pang of pain.

Sakura had been trying to save him, in vain. He was already dying. No one could've brought him back, not Rin, not even the famed Tsunade. Still, the pink-haired medic had been fighting to keep all of that blood inside his broken frame, keep him breathing, keep his heart beating. Sasuke had been coughing and straining and _crying_, fading eyesight focused on Obito, speaking to him as if he were Itachi. Apologizing to him. Saying over and over how sorry he was for failing to kill Kakashi. He just kept apologizing, and Obito had played along as Itachi- and wept all the while.

_It's all right, Sasuke-niisan,_ he had whispered, voice shaking, silent tears trailing down dirty cheeks, tracking through the ash. _It's going to be all right. _

_Itachi, I- oh, god, it hurts! ITACHI! _

That cry, pierced with longing, onyx eyes wide with agony and filling with tears, and Sakura was sobbing and Obito's shoulders were shaking and a scream had been caught in Naruto's throat, a disbelieving scream filled with horror.

_I know it hurts, Sasuke-niisan. Just hold on. It'll all be okay soon. _

_Ita…chi… I'm sor… _

Naruto sucked in an agonized breath as his eyes shot open. Sasuke- Sasuke was-

_Alive. _They were in the past and Sasuke. Was. Alive.

Obito must have wanted him to save Sasuke. But how? Naruto didn't know how far in the past they were but Sasuke had died only a few days before their final clash against Kakashi. The only way to directly prevent his death would be to wait until the day of his death, then intervene- but that was ridiculous. To stand by and watch as the world erupted into war again, watch as his village fell and shinobi died, twiddling his thumbs until the right moment- that was not wrong, and not what his father and Obito had taught him to do. No, that couldn't be it.

Unless… he meant for him to save Itachi?

Yes- yes, that might work. If Itachi never died, then Sasuke never would have been so reckless against Kakashi- he never would've kept fighting until he couldn't be saved. Perhaps, if Itachi was kept alive, then Sasuke would stay that way, too.

Not only that, but Itachi was one of the strongest Uchiha there was. With him, Sasuke, _and_ Obito in the fray against Kakashi's one lone, stolen Sharingan- the odds could be turned in their favor.

Naruto gave a slight nod, undeniably satisfied with what he had decided. Now, he just had to figure out how to save Itachi.

He thought back to that horrible day. It was soon after their graduation from the Academy, just a month before their chuunin exam. Naruto had only found out because he was the son of the Hokage, not because he was a ninja- the news that Itachi had been captured by criminals had been kept secret and silent. Obito, Shisui, and Fugaku had been sent out to retrieve him- they returned with a hitai-ate and one bloody bag. Naruto had only learned later that inside that bag were Itachi's Sharingan.

Obito had never been the same after that. Being forced to kill his closest friend- it changed him, and Naruto suppressed another wave of hatred towards Kakashi when he remembered just how broken his sensei had been in the weeks after the incident. The first time he'd used his newfound Mangekyou, he'd almost collapsed into tears, apologizing in whispered, shattered words for being unable to save Itachi.

_I'm so sorry… you're saving me, even now, but I couldn't protect you. I'm so sorry, Itachi! I'm so sorry! _

Naruto gritted his teeth and just barely managed to stay silent.

_Remember, _he told himself, for what was sure to be the first of many, _remember that none of your loved ones are dead. Not now. Not anymore._

Obito had yet to kill Itachi, had yet to hold his student's hand as he died- had yet to find that his best friend from years past had betrayed him. He had yet to die with a broken heart. Sasuke had not yet rammed bleeding fist after bleeding fist into the hard earth, screaming out in a blind fury, wanting nothing more than his brother back. He had yet to die- still wanting nothing more than to avenge his brother. Sakura had yet to hold all her friends in her arms as they died, her skills more often than not used to simply ease pain so they passed from this world to the next with a smile instead of a scream.

And it was now his responsibility to ensure that _none of that_ ever happened.

_I won't fail, you all. I will not let you down. _

He was the Hokage, after all. And the Hokage protected his village and his friends, even at the cost of his own life.


	3. Arc One 3

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* * *

It had been three days, by Naruto's count, when there was a break in the enforced, hate-filled silence that wasn't Kakashi stretching or Kakashi yawning.

He perked up, raising his head slightly at the faint sound of another living being that intruded upon Naruto's prison and Kakashi's recovery room. It was a human, he knew that for sure, it was a human that was approaching slowly and poking around hesitantly outside. He was hopeful, hopeful for just one moment before he remembered just how unearthly strong Kakashi was, and that this person would not be his savior, but Kakashi's next victim. Even Chakra exhausted and injured like he was, that sick bastard could kill most jounin without a struggle. He'd seen it happen.

And now, only a few days into the past, Kakashi's reign of terror was going to begin _again_. If that man made the mistake of investigating further, then Naruto was going to have to just sit here and _watch_ him kill again.

He wanted nothing more than for that man to move on past this mysterious cabin in the middle of the woods, just ignore it and keep walking. Kakashi was _his_ responsibility to deal with, damn it, and he could not- _would not_- watch him kill again.

"Hello?" The sound of two sharp raps on the door. "Hello? Is there anyone here?"

Naruto bit his lip so hard it bled.

_No!_ _No! Run, you idiot! _He wanted to scream at the man to just go away, but it was far, far too late now. They'd been seen, and Kakashi wasn't stupid enough to let this man live.

"Come in."

Kakashi's voice was genial and welcoming, as if he were inviting a friend in for tea, and it made Naruto's fists clench. He twisted to glare at the Akatsuki member, at that bastard slouched there, so nonchalant even as he invited a man in for his execution, and swore again that he would die, die for all he had done and so he wouldn't be able to cause any more pain.

The door slowly swung inside, creaking and protesting as if it had been constructed decades ago instead of three days in the past, and in cautiously stepped a Konoha shinobi. He sported the village headband and chuunin uniform, his hair long and a dark, glossy brown. It obscured the left side of his tan face, parting on the other side to reveal a brown eye and one half of a confused frown. Two plain katana were strapped to his back, and his uniform was torn and looked as if it had been washed in dirt and mud- the ever familiar signs of a ninja returning home from a long mission away.

Kamizuki Izumo.

But he was younger than he should have been, and Naruto looked away, because he also wasn't supposed to be alive- but they hadn't all died yet, right? The war hadn't happened yet, and his beloved village hadn't been burned to the ground and his shinobi hadn't been cut down like blades of glass, and-

_"Iruka-sensei! Iruka-sensei, no!" _

_"Let me go, Naruto!" _

_Naruto hung on tight, hugging Iruka tighter to his chest as the teacher screamed and fought, pushing at his iron grip with everything he had. "Let me GO!" he bellowed, thrashing in his arms, agonized voice echoing with the crackle of fire and woosh of smoke. "Izumo and Kotetsu are in there! We have to save them; they could still be alive! NARUTO!" _

_And Naruto could do nothing but hold him back from rushing into his death, too, because Izumo and Kotetsu and all the other members of their squad had been incinerated, bodies vaporizing in an instant from the dreaded Explosive Style of the resurrected warriors. No one could have survived that. _

_And Iruka threw himself about, refusing to believe that his closest friends since childhood were gone, DEAD, just like that, and Naruto held on until he stopped trying to run. He held him tighter when he collapsed in a sob, and held him even tighter when he begged for this war, this death, this pain, ALL of it, this horrific, never-ending hell to just END. _

Naruto closed his eyes against the memories with a violent shudder. Iruka's sobs echoed in his ears and his arms ached with the force of holding him back from throwing himself into the consuming inferno, and his heart throbbed with the weight of his sensei's pain.

But Iruka hadn't watched Izumo and Kotetsu die, right? That hadn't happened yet; Iruka and his two best friends were all alive and-

Izumo was going to die!

Iruka's face, haunted and lost and agonized-

_No! Not again! _

Naruto opened his mouth to scream out a warning, to tell Izumo to run and not stop until he got back home- but it was too late.

That empty, vacant look in his eyes- his slack mouth, his limp hands… he was caught in a genjutsu.

_NO! _

"What year is it?" Kakashi asked coolly, and Naruto twisted and fought against his bonds to glower at the killer reclining on the couch as if this were a calming chat over lunch. His red eye was glowing and spinning and Naruto bared his teeth, hands flexing around nothing as they itched to claw into his throat and rip open his heart. _You son of a bitch-_

"One-hundred thirty after the founding."

Izumo's voice was blank and empty, forcibly obedient, and while Naruto's blood boiled with another surge of fury against the Akatsuki leader, the words shocked him out of the worst of his rage. That year…

Obito had taken them eight years into the past.

Before the war. Before Konoha was destroyed. Before his friends all died in horrible, bloody deaths that would haunt his dreams forever. _Before_ all of that.

This was the year he had graduated from the Academy.

The shock of it all, the idea that _none of that_ had happened- it was almost too much for him to take.

Not so, for Kakashi, who continued on easily as if the answer had been entirely what he'd expected. "Where are we?"

"Fire Country. About twenty miles from Konoha."

Naruto swore quietly under his breath. Twenty miles out meant they weren't within the standard security net around the village, and no patrol teams would find them.

But that was also a good thing, because that meant no patrol teams would die by Kakashi's hand, either.

"Give me all of your supplies, your money, and your weapons.'

Izumo obediently walked across the room while Naruto watched, eyes narrow in suspicion. He began steadily removing his weapon's pouch, his swords, numerous tools and small packs of food and other such items being withdrawn from his vest and handed over. Kakashi set them all aside calmly, waiting as Izumo gave up his whole arsenal. Naruto eyed the growing pile with increasing apprehension, apprehension progressing to a full-blown anxiety when Izumo finally came to a stop.

Now Kakashi had no further use for him. And that meant he was going to kill him.

Except… why hadn't he killed him already? Not killing him outright made sense, but after he knew where and _when_ they were, what purpose was there in continuing the waste the Chakra to fuel the genjutsu? Why hadn't Kakashi just killed him and taken his supplies for his own then?

"Go back to Konoha now. You never saw us; you never ran into this cabin in the woods. You ran into a bit more trouble on your mission than expected, and your supplies were all either used or lost."

Naruto gasped silently.

Was Kakashi…

Izumo turned and walked with an easy, slow pace back towards the door, swaying from side to side slightly as Kakashi began to gradually loosen his hold on him. Naruto didn't dare make a sound until the chuunin was out the door and safely away from Kakashi's destructive line of sight, and then only slumped as much as he could in relief to know that one of his shinobi had not been killed because he failed to act sooner.

But then he heard Kakashi groan slightly and his attention was drawn back to him. The Akatsuki leader was still relaxing on his probably not comfortable wooden couch, but now one half-gloved hand was clasped over his Sharingan eye. The other eye, the one that Naruto could see, was narrowed slightly, and he looked almost as if he was in pain.

Naruto smiled grimly.

_Good, _he thought. That genjutsu had taken more Chakra than he was sure Kakashi cared to admit- the Akatsuki leader was still absolutely exhausted from their last battle. His recovery was going no faster than Naruto's.

And he and just set himself back a step or two.

_I'll be able to make my move soon._

As good as that was, though, it still left him with an unanswered question- why had Kakashi bothered with genjutsu at all? Why hadn't he just killed Izumo?

He found himself asking before he even remembered his vow of silence.

"Why didn't you kill him?"

Kakashi blinked. The man tilted his head slightly to look at Naruto, grey eye dark and unreadable. After a moment under his uncomfortable scrutiny, Naruto shifted uneasily, and then the man turned his head back to stare at the ceiling and shrugged. "I don't live to kill people. It doesn't give me any sort of sadistic pleasure. I had no reason to kill him, so I didn't."

And that just didn't make any sense, not when they had been fighting a war for _three years- _a war that _Kakashi _had started.

Naruto's anger rose up hotly again before he could reign it in, confusion at Izumo's fate draining away in the face of fury. "What about the hundreds that you killed in the war?! You had reason to kill them, then?! What the _hell_ had they ever done to you?!"

Kakashi didn't bother turning his head to look at him this time. "It's not a question of them ever having _done_ anything to me. If I was fighting that war for revenge, then I would be a foolish man indeed."

Naruto glared.

That man- that man and his absolutely infuriating manner, indifferent to the destruction he had caused and the suffering his hands brought, aloof to world's hatred, stupid and uncaring-

He had had _enough_ of it.

"Then _why_ were you fighting that war, you son of a bitch?! Never once, in all of those three years- never _once_ did you give a reason for what you were doing! You fought every hidden village there was with only Orochimaru and the Hidden Sound behind your back, and for what? You _abandoned _your village and your team, only to turn back around to try and kill and destroy them! Do you have any _idea _what you did to Obito-sensei? Rin-oneechan? Tou-san?! Your betrayal- it _killed_ them! I've never seen them so-"

"Are you quite finished rambling on about matters that you clearly don't know the slightest thing about?"

"Then why don't _you_ educate me!" he spat. "_No one_ knows why you did what you did. It makes no sense and maybe you're just bat shit crazy, I don't know, but-"

"You stick up for your beloved sensei and father and Rin and you don't even know what _they_ did. It sickens me- you all worship them like they're your heroes, but everyone just ignores the past like it didn't happen. They'll gladly vilify me, but say one word against your precious Fourth Hokage or Hero of the White Flame and you fall apart in a temper tantrum." Kakashi let out a mighty puff of air, blowing disheveled spikes of ashy hair out of his eyes. "Do you even know where Obito got that nickname? His move that it's named off of? He stole it from _me! _But that doesn't matter to you, does it; I'm just a stupid traitor and he's your beloved hero. Pssh. I never abandoned Konoha or that team- they abandoned me."

"They thought you were _dead!_"

"Huh." Kakashi stretched lazily, as if the discussion were boring him now, and sighed. "And the lie prevails. I don't know if you actually believe that or if they told you the truth and you're just carrying on the tradition of lying, but it doesn't matter. Madara-sama told me the truth from the beginning."

Naruto shook from despise at the other man's ignorance and stupidity. He had mentioned things like this during the few occasions Minato, Rin, and Obito had gotten close enough to talk to him, and Naruto just could not understand it. First of all, there was the problem that Madara was very much dead- but more than that.

Everybody knew that Madara was a manipulative, lying bastard that had fought Hashirama over the title of Hokage. No one, not even the Uchiha, spoke his name with kindness. And when Naruto thought of Minato, Obito, Rin- they were beloved by all, three heroes that had sacrificed everything to save their village more than once.

Who could ever believe Madara over them?

Naruto took a deep breath and made himself focus. All he- or anybody- knew about what had happened to Kakashi after that fateful mission at Kannabi Bridge was that it involved Madara. He had clearly gotten a Sharingan somehow, and Mokuton, and been deluded into serving Madara instead of his village. Naruto could hardly pity the bastard, not after all he had done, but he couldn't help but keep asking questions. He was curious, he had to admit, about what had happened to make Kakashi switch sides, going from loyal Konoha shinobi to a man hellbent on destroying all of what he had once sworn to protect.

Besides, it was as Minato once taught him. The key to defeating one's enemy was to understand him.

And Naruto was willing to try to understand the sick, twisted ways of the demonic Akatsuki leader's thinking to defeat him. He was willing to try _anything _in exchange for the chance at killing him.

"Why," he whispered. His eyes went to stare at Kakashi's lazy figure, which had never once even tensed during the emotional discussion. The Akatsuki leader was still staring at the ceiling like it was the most interesting thing in the world. "Why do you serve Madara? What happened after that mission that made you turn into… _this?_"

Kakashi sighed again. He tucked an arm behind his head before tugging some of Izumo's supplies up onto his chest with the other, looking through them. He spoke like it was an afterthought, as if his conversation with Naruto were far less interesting and just something to pass the time. "Intriguing. It seems they really did continue to lie to you… _Godaime. _I suppose the secrets of Team Minato were meant to die when Yondaime gave up his title."

"Talking in cryptic speech like that doesn't explain a thing."

Kakashi paused, then chuckled quietly and tossed what sounded like a pouch of coins to the floor. "Ah, it doesn't. You're correct on that point, Naruto-kun." The man seemed to take great pleasure in the irritation the suffix drew from his hostage, eyes curving into twin crescents when Naruto growled and thrashed against the ropes again- and then his masked features reverted to his usual tired boredom and he continued. "Well, I suppose there is no harm in divulging a little of my life's story. I admit, I'm interested to see how you will defend your precious father and sensei after you know some of the truth."

Naruto waited with bated breath.

Kakashi began examining one of Izumo's swords with a curious eye, still paying Naruto no attention. It was almost as if he was talking to himself. "My father… it all started with him, I suppose. He served Konoha loyally for years- your famed White Fang. I'm sure you heard of him. Thirty years of service, he gave you, doing whatever it was you asked of him. But then… oh, then he made a mistake." Kakashi laughed, and it was bitter. "He dared to save his friends instead of completing the mission. And that was it. He makes one mistake in thirty years and suddenly, he's not your precious hero, he's your scapegoat for the war and a coward, a fool. You treated him like trash- and me as well."

Naruto continued watching and stayed silent. None of this contradicted with what he already knew- including how Kakashi had been blamed for his father's actions. Minato had told him this, all with a sad look in his eye as he mourned his dead student's lost childhood.

At the time, Naruto had felt sorry for him.

Now, he looked at Kakashi and saw nothing but a man he wanted to kill.

"I fought in the war he caused as payment for his _sins._" Kakashi spat the last word out and scoffed, fingers dancing along a collection of shuriken. "I was already a ninja when the war began, and the rest of the village thought it only right that his son take his place on the battlefield and die for what he had done. And when their hatred drove my father to kill himself, they only wanted me to die more." He laughed again, a short, harsh sound. "The other children, they threw rocks at me, kicked me down, yelled at me. Told me that I should just run off and die like my father- that they didn't play with monsters like me. The adults weren't much better." Kakashi's head shifted to the side to look at Naruto, and he looked curious and inquisitive rather than angry and accusatory. "Your village decided to ostracize, hate, and kill me just because my father wanted to help his friends."

Naruto met his eyes without flinching. _"None_ of that is true," he snapped, continuing on even when Kakashi didn't look affected in the slightest. "You may have fought in the war, but the rest of that is a lie."

Kakashi shrugged and turned back to Izumo's weapons. "Maa, I'd be inclined to believe you, except I actually lived through it. You weren't even born yet. I think my memories of what happened would be a little clearer than yours."

Naruto opened his mouth to protest, but the Akatsuki leader was already continuing on, and so he kept silent to gleam more into what Kakashi apparently thought was his past.

"Anyway, when I was apparently too good to just get killed in the war, they put me on a team. Thought the harder missions would lead to me getting killed off, finally, like the useless rat I was. Minato, Obito, and Rin." He paused in his work, then smirked. "They were no different than the others. I thought that they might be, that they might look at me and see someone other than my father- but I was wrong. They jumped at the chance to leave me in battle, to send me out on the hardest assignments and chose _not to hear _when I needed help." Kakashi scoffed quietly at that. "It was no different than before. …And when we were sent to Kannabi Bridge, I wasn't strong enough to escape without their help. I could've survived the rockslide they told Konoha killed me, and they knew it. But it was finally the excuse they were looking to leave me behind, and they did.

"Minato, Obito, and Rin went back to Konoha. They left me to die."

Naruto had never _heard_ a more garbled version of events.

Absolutely none of that was the truth. Minato, Rin, and Obito had _loved_ Kakashi. He was a member of their team- they would do anything to save him, not anything to see him die. Yes, Kakashi had almost died several times on that team, but so had the other members- it was war, and that was how war went. It had not been through the purposeful negligence of his team members.

And at Kannabi Bridge, Kakashi had truly proven himself as a member of Team Minato by changing what his father's suicide had ingrained into him- he'd gone against the mission to go back and save Rin. And he'd been trapped in that rockslide- _died _in that rockslide. It was his death that had brought Rin to train harder than she ever had before, to make up for not being strong enough to save him. It was his death that had led to Obito going from the black sheep of the Uchiha to the star of the clan, going from chuunin to ANBU captain- trying to make up for the fact that he hadn't been strong enough to protect Kakashi. It was _his death_ that had led to Minato going from Hokage-hopeful to Hokage, swearing that he would change the village that had both judged and punished Kakashi for his father's actions and sent children out to war.

Kakashi's death had reforged Team Minato into one of the deadliest trios in all of the Hidden Continent. It had broken them, and they had then remade themselves into something even stronger than before.

And now, this man here spoke as if Team Minato had purposefully _abandoned_ him- as if they carelessly left him to die.

"You _lie,"_ he snarled. Naruto fought again against the ropes and curled his hands into fists. Anger coursed through his veins and he fought the urge to tear out his throat again. "You are _lying._ They would never have abandoned you to die. Obito-sensei believed that the worst crime was leaving ones teammates behind- and he saw you as a teammate. I don't know why you're lying or what could have possibly deluded you into thinking all of that nonsense was true- but you're wrong. And I will _not_ let you talk about them like that!"

Kakashi sighed. It sounded like a mixture of resignation, disappointment, and sadness, and he looked back to the numerous bags and pouches resting on his chest. "And Obito taught you, so of course you would stick up for your _friends. _I thought as much."

He said no more on the subject, even when Naruto opened his mouth to reply and shoot down the bastard's ridiculous nonsense- Kakashi just continued on. "Well, I wasn't dead, obviously. Madara-sama found me. He saved my life and took me in. He helped me heal and trained me… me. A complete stranger. …Things Konoha had never bothered to do for me- _one of their own." _

Kakashi's statement was cold, and possessed a kind of finality that made Naruto shiver. It was very clearly the moment that Kakashi's loyalties had been turned, taking him from being a shinobi of Konoha to a protege of Madara's- to the one person who showed him simple human kindness in his time of need.

Or that was how Kakashi perceived the situation to be, at any rate.

And Naruto knew him to be one hundred percent wrong, and he wasn't going to sit here and let Kakashi live on happily in his bubble of ignorance, licking his wounds like he'd been _oh so hurt_ as a child and _so victimized_ by Konona any longer.

"I won't deny that the way the village treated your father was wrong." Naruto began his speech slow and quiet, eyes downcast and troubled. "I won't deny that _those that did_ judge you and blame you for what he did was wrong, either. But _you-_ you let yourself get absorbed and wrapped up in their hatred, and you focused on that until that was all that you saw. I know that Team Minato would never have treated you as you claimed. If you had spent even _one second_ actually looking at them instead of just imagining that they were like those few that hated you, you would've seen what they were really like! That they really _cared_ about you! Instead of getting sucked up with _Good Samaritan Uchiha Madara_ all because _they abandoned you, _maybe then you would've realized that your team actually cared about you and- and _loved you! _But no, instead you get lost in all of this _imagined pain _inflicted on to you and think nothing is more important than your own petty troubles! You and that bastard Madara are nothing more than trash, and I swear, I will kill you for what you have done. I will _not_ let it go unanswered!"

Kakashi didn't move for one long, still moment. Naruto's words had grown, beginning slow and calm and accelerating into a hotly furious tirade, and throughout it all, the Akatsuki leader hadn't reacted in the slightest. He hadn't even looked at him.

And then he tilted his head just slightly, so his grey eye could meet Naruto's, and murmured, "You know… I think you're right."

Naruto stared.

And then Kakashi chuckled coldly. "Yes," he deadpanned, "because I am going to reevaluate what I have lived my entire life knowing based off a two-minute speech from my enemy, and change my mind and work with him- going against the man who saved my life and raised me. Your speech was really that moving, Naruto- you telling me that all of what I remember never happened and that it was really cuddly bunnies and rainbows, and that the only man who ever bothered to take care of me was a bastard, swearing to kill me… something about that _really_ convinced me!" He beamed, then turned his head back to Izumo's weapons, raising one of the swords so it caught the light. "Now, do you think I should use this to kill you? Or perhaps this?"

Naruto looked up at the masked Akatsuki leader, whose demeanor was as cold as his voice and icy grin that came nowhere close to matching the ice in his heart. He looked up at him and remembered the Kakashi he had stories about in his childhood, the man his sensei and Obito and Rin had loved and described as loyal, powerful- mentally scarred but a true friend, all the way to the end-

And the man he saw was unrecognizable.

He abruptly felt betrayed, so hurt and betrayed, _lied to- _because this Kakashi was nothing like the man his sensei and his father had idolized, held up on an alter like he was someone to look up to and care for.

And he would kill this man, this _impostor_- not only for what he had done, but who he had hurt- because Minato, Obito, and Rin had encountered this bastard during the war, and it had broken their hearts to find that the Kakashi they remembered was no more. Seeing what he had turned into- they had blamed themselves for it, apologizing to the Akatsuki leader over and over again- words that fell on deaf ears.

Naruto would kill this man for Minato, Obito, and Rin. He would kill this man for who Kakashi had once been- because this Kakashi-shell was nothing more than an impostor for the ninja of his father and his sensei's dreams, and he did not deserve to live any longer.

* * *

_To confirm- I didn't change anything at all up to the point of Kannabi Bridge. So Naruto is correct when he says what Kakashi's saying is a lie; I'm not doing the standard Naruto plot 'kid has a rough childhood' equals 'evil villain'. Feedback please? :)_


	4. Arc One 4

Thank you for reviewing! Sorry, but Kakashi's going to be taking a little break from the conscious world for a while after this chapter. Sorry. I know you guys like Evil!Kakashi; I love him, too, but it's necessary. He'll be up and kicking again soon.

* * *

Naruto kept his eyes closed at the sound of metal weapons clanking to the floor. He hadn't bothered to open them since Kakashi had stopped speaking; all he would see was the masked Akatsuki leader, and the sight of him drove him to madness with fury and bloodlust, and it was just easier to focus if he was blind.

Every waking moment since he'd heard those few bits of Kakashi's story had been devoted to how he was going to kill Kakashi. Not _this_ Kakashi, specifically; he was wounded and exhausted and if Naruto played his cards right, he could beat him. But the _other_ Kakashi- the younger one, the one from this timeline originally.

He had thought through what he knew of his abilities, and, admittedly, it wasn't good.

Even with one Sharingan instead of two, he was able to use the red eye better than almost any Uchiha there was, rivaling even Obito and Sasuke in battle. Naruto knew from years of sparring against those two that the key to defeating a Sharingan user was not to fight the Sharingan, but outwit it- be smarter than the enemy and use that to your advantage. Because the Sharingan itself could not be beaten. It saw things too quickly to be won against.

And Kakashi's Sharingan was one that was far worse and deadlier than Obito's terrifying Mangekyou. The most powerful genjutsu there was, Tsukuyomi- unbreakable, and able to incapacitate an opponent in just one second, and all Naruto had to do to fall prey to it was look him in the eye. Amaterasu- all-consuming black flames that could not be doused or escaped from- and even worse than Tsukuyomi; he just had to be within Kakashi's line of sight.

And then, Susanoo.

Kakashi's Susanoo defense had allowed the Akatsuki leader to clear out an entire battlefield just by himself. Their sole strategy against the shield had been to exhaust Kakashi to the point of when using Susanoo was no longer an option- as to actually combat the Sharingan monstrosity? They had had no ideas.

And that was just his Sharingan's distinctive qualities. It still enabled him to see through any and all genjutsu, still enabled him to see so fast he could truly use lightening Chakra the most deadly ways possible- rivaling even the Raikage and his strange ability to use black lightening.

But those were abilities that Naruto himself could combat- that he had grown to use defending against, when sparring with Obito and Sasuke.

However, there was also his Mokuton to contend with. It was dangerous and not to be ignored- but not as worrisome as the Sharingan. Naruto had little experience with the ability, of course, but from what he had seen, Kakashi was no more competent with wood release than Yamato was. His abilities were nowhere near the level of the legendary First's.

Rare and stolen kekkei genkai aside, there were also his abilities as a normal ninja, cultivated from raw talent as a child prodigy to deal with. This was the ninja that had been made jounin at thirteen- with no Sharingan or Mokuton. Only elite ninja would be able to fight him and win, without the added benefits of wood release or one extraordinarily deadly eye.

His weaknesses?

His stamina. That was all the commanders of the whole Allied Forces had been able to come up with, even after three years at war.

But it was one deadly weakness to have. He wasn't an Uchiha; he didn't possess the large Chakra reserves needed to use the Sharingan most effectively. And Yamato had added his knowledge to the mix, telling them all that Wood Release, too, used a huge amount of Chakra. Naruto himself had seen Kakashi collapse on the battlefield three times due to exhaustion, motionless form being carried away on one of Deidara's birds or Sasori's puppets.

But his only plan being to fight Kakashi until he exhausted himself- that was ridiculous. Kakashi was strong enough to kill him before he ran out of energy. If it was him and the last members of Team Minato, then perhaps the situation would be different-

But that was out of the question. He could still remember only too well the way Obito's face had gone blank and dead when Kakashi had revealed himself during the war- the pain in his voice as he'd begged the Akatsuki leader to just explain what had happened, what had gone wrong. He could still remember how devastated Rin had been when they'd told her later, how she'd caved against Obito and hidden her head in his chest, and he could still remember how Minato's face had contorted in disbelief and regret, how he'd held his head in his hands until his shoulders shook and all he could say were mumbles of an apology.

He wanted to save them from that.

Minato, Obito, and Rin would not find out what Kakashi had become- not if he had anything to say about it.

And that meant he could not involve Konoha in this. Minato was the Hokage now- trying to go home and use their help now would spell nothing but trouble.

But then who could he go to? The brightest minds of the shinobi world were in Konoha. Even when the Five Hidden Villages had all banded together against the Akatsuki, it had been the Nara, Shikaku and Shikamaru, who had been the brains of it all. They had been the ones devising battle plans, strategies, methods to outwit and outmaneuver and _beat_ the inhuman fiends of the Akatsuki.

And even they had failed to come up with a foolproof plan against Kakashi.

So who could Naruto go to for help, then? Who could Naruto go to for help against the man responsible for the destruction of his world?

Well, if no one on the side of the Allied Forces had the brilliance to help him- perhaps someone on the other side. Someone on the other side who had not yet abandoned their village in this timeline, someone powerful enough and wise enough to be just what he needed.

The majority of the other side consisted of White Zetsu clones or dead, genius shinobi from years past that had been Edo-Tensei'd, though.

Naruto quickly turned his thoughts to the few who had not been dead or stupid, snarling copies. There was the Hidden Village of Sound, the only prominent ally Kakashi had sought out- led by _Orochimaru_.

Orochimaru had already long since abandoned Konoha by now. And from what Naruto knew of the man, he hadn't been particularly loyal to Kakashi or the Akatsuki- he was simply an opportunist, and decided he would benefit more from involving himself and fighting along with Kakashi.

Crack scientist, researcher, the labs they raided filled with mutant creatures in control of horrific powers. The man who looked into kekkei genkai that had long died out, bringing back the dead and otherwise doing the impossible.

…Dealing with the devil had never been advised. But to defeat a creature even worse than the devil- it was necessary.

Now he knew who he wanted to go to for help. Now he just had to figure out how to escape from this Kakashi and defeat him.

Naruto already had an escape plan, but he was wary of using it. With his Chakra suppressed and so low, his only option was to meditate his way into Sage Mode. It would enable him five minutes of top notch fighting ability, Chakra or not- but Kakashi was already familiar with the fact that Sage Mode would allow him to escape. And he was a genius- there was no way Kakashi wouldn't have planned for that.

But he didn't know what on earth the Akatsuki member could be planning. _His_ Chakra levels were low, too- and unlike Naruto, he didn't have the ability to revert to the powers of natural energy. What was he planning?

_That_ had been something Naruto had been puzzling since he'd come to tied to this tree, and he still had gotten nowhere. Thinking more over it now was just going to result in Kakashi having more time to regain Chakra.

Kakash's contingency plan weighing heavily on his mind, Naruto took a deep breath, then prepared to meditate.

It was time to put his escape plan into action.

Going into Sage Mode was a peculiar experience. Three minutes into the five minute requirement, he began to feel the others around him- the animals crawling and jumping through the trees outside, the walls of the cabin laced with fluttering veins of energy, Kakashi, his definitely low Chakra firmly at sleep levels.

He thought of Jiraiya- someone safe to think about, someone who hadn't died during the war, who he didn't have memories of contorting and screaming in agony. The reminder of the Toad Sage allowed him to relax even further, and his senses stretched out further. There was an owl here, awake in the dark night, a hawk there, asleep in the branches of a tree. A burrow of rabbits hidden away under the earth, a colony of bees, buzzing away no matter what the hour-

_There!_

His attention snapped to revolve around a small collection of unusually strong bundles of Chakra and energy. Those were not animals. They were humans- ninja. Jounin, by the feel of them.

Five jounin.

He didn't recognize their Chakra, but that meant little; this was before he became Hokage, before he became familiar with all his shinobi's Chakra. They could still be Konoha ninja.

He grinned.

This was very different than the situation with Izumo. That man was a chuunin and stood absolutely no chance against Kakashi. But five jounin? Against a Chakra exhausted Kakashi? With Naruto on their side… surely they would be strong enough to subdue him.

But he had to act fast.

Naruto felt his system fill with every last drop of natural energy it could take, and his once blue eyes opened to flash gold in the darkness. His body thrummed with power and he ripped through the ropes like they didn't even exist, moving with lightening speed towards the defenseless Akatsuki leader.

Except he wasn't so defenseless. Naruto's fist wrapped so tight around his throat it should've shattered the bone, but the next second, Kakashi had disappeared, and he was holding a plank of wood.

Naruto jumped back as Kakashi fell from above, avoiding the kunai so narrowly the metal still scraped against his cheek. He lunged forward without pause, one hand wrapping around Kakashi's wrist while the other fisted to slam through the wall of the cabin. The wood splintered and cracked, the noise of the Chakra-enforced material pulverizing under his punch- and his purpose was to cause noise and attract attention.

And it _worked_, if the way the jounins' Chakra startled and froze and shifted to focus in his direction.

But his relief was short-lived, as the next second, Kakashi was dropping to the ground. Naruto's hand was still wrapped around his wrist, and the sudden addition of a hundred plus pounds had him stumble, and in that split second a hand was grabbing on Naruto's head and yanking him head over heels.

The two tumbled to the ground in a purely taijutsu match, Kakashi relying on dodging and using his strength against him while Naruto used the speed and power gifted to him by natural energy to bulldoze straight through. Kakashi was exhausted but naturally faster than him, and Naruto was battling with injuries and just trying to get his hands together for a seal- but Kakashi was trying to prevent just that.

And he was doing a damn good job, too.

But Kakashi didn't know he had backup coming; he was just trying to stall for five minutes until Naruto's natural energy ran out. Which would've been a pretty nice plan, had the jounin not been less than two minutes out.

Naruto had just managed to punch Kakashi so hard he could almost see the black eye form- and the concussion take hold- when the cabin walls were carved to shreds. The two struggling enemies froze on the floor, watching as a the majority of one wall was reduced to dust-

To reveal five Konoha shinobi.

At their head- Gekko Hayate, one of the best swordsmen in Konoha. Well, in three years, he would be- perhaps not now. But still, the sight of him and his squad was a pleasant one.

"Maa… _must_ shinobi be so blunt? Honestly, there was a door _right there_. Why did you have to ruin the fine architecture? That took _work_, you know."

Naruto's grip tightened around Kakashi's stupid throat, and he felt a momentary surge of annoyance at him.

Next second, Kakashi had kicked Naruto up and sent him tumbling back into the intruders. "_Mokuton: Mokujouheki!_"

Naruto recognized the name of the technique and was already bringing his own hands together as well, blowing out a gust of wind before Hayate caught him. The swordsman kept him upright while Naruto stopped Kakashi from hiding under his shield. "_Fuuton: Jiki Kire!"_

The blast of air sheared straight through the interlocking bands of wood to reveal a crouching Kakashi, hands now in an earth seal- and body already half underground. Naruto breaking through his protection didn't slow his descent in the slightest, but two of the jounin grabbed onto his arms before he could escape further.

Just like that. The legendary leader of the Akatsuki- the man who had evaded defeat and capture for three years in war… brought down by Chakra exhaustion, Naruto, and five random jounin.

Naruto grinned.

"Cover his eye," he panted, straightening himself up and dusting himself off. "The red one."

One of the jounin complied without question, leaving Kakashi hanging helplessly in their grip. He didn't look angry, or upset- far form it. He just glanced between them idly with one bored, grey eye, other eye hidden by a thin silken scarf. "So rude," he murmured. "And you don't even know me. Konoha's hospitality has really gone down as of late."

The jounin present all paused, looking uneasy, and Hayate stepped forward. "He makes a point." He turned to look at Naruto and crossed his arms, eyes narrowing. "Who are you, who is he, and why were you fighting?"

Naruto reached up to point to his own Konoha headband, grateful beyond belief that it had survived the last battle and was still tied around his forehead. Then he pointed at Kakashi- his Akatsuki robes in particular- before faltering. This was before the Akatsuki was anything more than a few ninjas in the shadows. Their dark uniforms, symbols that bespoke of so much devastation and destruction in the future, would mean nothing now. "This man… is my enemy. Thank you for your assistance- you saved my life."

Hayate coughed, and his hand did not stray from the hilt of his sword. "You didn't answer my first question. Who are you?" His dark eyes were narrow with recognition- and that gave Naruto an idea.

He scratched the back of his head and smiled, letting his natural energy stream out from his hands until his eyes faded back to their normal color. "I am Minato. I am returning from a very important undercover mission- that's why I look different. Obito took over my job for me while I was gone, but he was henged to look like me- it couldn't be known I was gone, you see- the mission. Heh… ah, it's a bit awkward, but I'll be returning to Konoha soon, with my prisoner in tow, but in secret- you all need to return to Konoha without mentioning what's happened here. Even to me. This is all very classified, of course, and it's best if you forget about it."

Hayate coughed again, and his squad stayed silent. It was clear they all doubted him- not that Naruto could blame them- but they _had_ to buy this ruse. If this insisted on taking him and Kakashi back to Konoha… _everything_ would be ruined.

The swordsman took another few steps forward to examine him closely. He coughed a third time, then frowned. "You do look like Yondaime- too much to be a coincidence."

Naruto tried not to smile at that- because he'd always been proud when people compared him to his father, but now was _so_ not the time, damn it!

"…But I have to ask that you prove it. Sorry, but it's necessary. I'm sure you understand." It was said with a grim smile, a false one, and Naruto tried to shrug and look at ease.

"Of course I understand. Hmm… I would show you a Rasengan, but my Chakra levels are too low- as I'm sure you can feel." Technically true, but also he doubted they would be very convinced when they found out he had to rely on a clone to help him mold the Chakra. "Perhaps information will do? Why you cough, Hayate-san?" Because that was a secret that not many knew, despite how many were curious, because the special jounin didn't like to talk about it and was a private person anyway. But the Hokage would be expected to know, but if he were an enemy from another village- he would have no possible way of finding out that information.

Hayate seemed to have reached the same conclusion he did, because after a few moments of silent reflection, he nodded through a cough. His expression remained suspicious, though, and Naruto made sure to talk quickly. "Your father smoked when you were young. A lot. He developed lung cancer by the time you were three, while you were lucky enough to escape with a… sensitivity and a susceptibility." That was the absolute extent that he could explain- for heaven's sake, he wasn't a medic nin.

(He'd asked Sakura, once, and he'd had a headache after a mere five minutes of _that_ conversation.)

Kakashi snorted, evidently very unimpressed, and Naruto shot a glare in the Akatsuki's direction before turning back to Hayate. The special jounin gave a slow nod, then sighed and took a step back. "I suppose this is what we agreed to. …We will head back to the village, then, Hokage-sama."

Naruto nodded back, relieved- but it was too soon to be celebrating yet.

"Well, this is a lovely reunion," Kakashi interrupted, "but I really must be going. Places to be, people to kill. Ta ta."

And even as Naruto turned, he heard the piercing cry of a thousand birds, there was a flash of light- and he was diving forward without even thinking about it. He collided with the shinobi gripping Kakashi's right arm, forcing him back so the chidori grazed his side and not his heart. There was a loud cry of pain from beneath Naruto and the sound of ripping and tearing to his left, then another sharp scream.

Naruto turned to see Kakashi kneeling on the floor, a wooden-like tentacle sprouted from his Zetsu half, piercing the other shinobi who'd been holding him straight through his torso and out the other side. The sharp endpoint dripped red with blood, and then the wood twisted, bringing the man flying through the air to slam into another, taking out one more of the jounin.

"_No!_" Naruto was up on his feet and hurtling towards the Akatsuki leader, a red hot fury giving him more energy than his Chakra ever could. Kakashi would _not_ kill another one of his shinobi! Not today, not ever!

With a slash of silver the tentacle sprouting from his side had been slashed through and Hayate was crouched behind him, katana at his throat. Naruto ran into him a split second later, wrapping steely hard arms around his thin torso and anchoring him in place. His mouth wound up an inch from Kakashi's ear and he smirked, breathing a little heavily. "Give up yet?" he muttered, and Kakashi sighed.

"You Konoha bunch are so melodramatic. Really. What did I ever do to you?"

And then the fourth jounin, the one Kakashi hadn't taken out yet and who wasn't standing with a sword to his throat, threw a kunai.

Hayate's sword was pushed out of the way by the force of the blow and Kakashi's slipped out of Naruto's grip, a wooden vein twisting around and pushing at the blond's body until he had to loosen his hold. The Akatsuki leader reappeared on the other side of the room with a grin, then waved from behind his sudden, unexpected helper. "_Now_ will you leave me alone? Because I _really_ have places to be!"

Naruto looked from Kakashi to the jounin- the one who had tied the scarf around his eye, in fact. And the look in the man's eyes- lost and blank-

"Shit!" he gasped, shifting into a defensive crouch and looking between Kakashi and the helpless jounin with wide eyes. "He got him in a genjutsu! Hayate, don't hurt him!"

Hayate tensed by his side but didn't move, and Naruto tried not to panic. This had gone very bad, very fast.

But he _had_ to win- had to win _now_ before this Kakashi went and teamed up with is past self. If one Kakashi was unbeatable, then two of them…

"Hayate, go for Kakashi! I've got your teammate!"

The swordsman didn't pause in following orders; one second, he was crouched by Naruto and the next, he was on the other side of the room, trying to work his way around flying wooden spears that spiraled around Kakashi's form- the Akatsuki leader managing to look bored the entire time, as if this was the easiest thing he had ever done. Naruto's fists clenched, and he said a silent prayer for Hayate's safety even as the genjutsu'd teammate ran to attack him.

It was easy enough for Naruto to evade his few attempts at attack- harder to muster enough of what little Chakra he had to jolt the man out of the genjutsu. But he did it, and he caught the man as he went limp just as there was a metallic clash from across the room. Naruto raised his head in time to see Hayate's sword be sent flying to pierce into the wall, well out of the man's reach- Kakashi holding a kunai at his throat.

The Aktasuki leader shifted to look Naruto in the eye, and he could hear him panting. "Just _how_ many more times are you going to put me through this?" he snapped, the tugged a little on his hostage. "He lives if you stop trying to kill me. Otherwise, you both die. Got it?"

In other words: He gets the chance to kill Kakashi again… but only if he lets a teammate die for him.

His fists trembled, and his eyes darkened in a furious, boiling hatred.

"…Let him go."

It was a faint whisper, body trembling with unease and regret, restraining himself from tearing apart that man limb from limb. _But I swear, I will kill you. _

Kakashi smirked. "Forgive me if I doubt you. I think I'll be on my way- if you haven't followed me in twenty minutes, I'll let him go. Of course, he'll be poisoned when you get there- can't risk you going after me then. You know the antidote, don't you? I used it on your precious sensei enough times, and he's still alive, at any rate."

"You're going to regret ever using it on anyone when I'm through with you, you bastard!"

"Maa, more empty threats. How wonder-…"

Kakashi never got to finish his sentence. One second, he was chatting happily as they weren't involved in a standoff- and then his cobalt eye shocked wide, his word choked off in a gasp of air, and his body went limp.

Naruto stared in disbelief as the deadly leader of the Akatsuki slumped against Hayate, head lolling forward onto the swordsman's back and eye closed. Neither one of them dared move. Was it some kind of trick? What exactly was Kakashi trying to pull?

And then he understood.

_Chakra exhaustion. _Kakashi had lost because of _Chakra exhaustion_._ Again. _

Naruto spent a moment bemoaning the fact that all six of them had only _barely_ won against a man so depleted he could barely stay conscious, but then he took a leaf from Obito's book and looked at the positive side of things.

And that was that there was no way Kakashi was getting out of it this time. They had won.

* * *

Jutsu

Mokuton: Mokujouheki- Wood Release: Wood-Locking Wall

Fuuton: Jiki Kire- Wind Release: Direct Slice


	5. Arc Two: Orochimaru

Thank you for reviewing! Several people have asked me in reviews or messages if Naruto and Kakashi came back into canon-verse or AU-verse. Well, it's AU-verse. I honestly didn't think of putting them in canon-verse :)

And thus, the Recovery Period arc is over, and the Orochimaru arc begins!

* * *

The sun was just beginning to rise when Naruto could finally risk coming to a stop.

He had finally escaped the borders to Fire Country, sneaking past the jounin squads he knew would be deployed to watch from the shadows. It would have been easy work for him, but with his unconscious prisoner in tow, it was a bit harder. It didn't help that his clandestine escape was all executed under the cover of cliche darkness, when the border patrol teams were more alert.

But they finally had left Fire Country, and now he was far enough away to be out of sight from the prying eyes of the teams he had slipped past. And that meant he had some serious planning to do.

Naruto finally came to a halt and wiped a bead of sweat from his forehead, glancing up at the rays of pink and orange light just now extending above the horizon. He dropped Kakashi down beside him, then stretched his sore muscles and grinned. "Ah. Does _that_ feel good!"

Kakashi mumbled worthlessly into the dirt, and Naruto twisted to glare down at him. "Keep quiet. You're _supposed_ to be sleeping."

Kakashi stayed quiet after that, and then Naruto nodded, satisfied. "Good boy."

He sat down on the forest floor next to his thoroughly unconscious prisoner, spreading out Izumo's map on the dirt and beginning to chew on some of his rations bars. Now that he could finally afford a few minutes to rest, he could orient himself- find out exactly where he was and, more importantly, where he was in relation to the Hidden Village of Sound. Except, at this point in time, it was more of a collection of Orochmiaru and a few others ninjas- not exactly a village.

Which was very good for Naruto, because sneaking past a whole village with Kakashi in tow just to talk to Orochimaru would've been pretty damn difficult.

He spared a glance at Kakashi, his attention being pulled from the map to fixate around the helpless Akatsuki leader. It would be so _easy_… he could just slit Kakashi's throat here and now, watch his blood spill out and soak into the ground and the life drain out of him-

He tightened his fist around a kunai and looked away. He couldn't do that. Not _yet_. He had to get the bastard to Orochimaru _alive_- and then, after the research on him was done… _then_ he could kill him.

A moment passed in tense silence, and then Naruto took the kunai drove it into the ground, iron blade sinking through hard-packed earth to dig into a rock with a sharp crack. He slammed it forward in a burst of fury and hung his head, shoulders trembling with repressed rage.

It didn't matter that keeping him alive would give him the best chance at killing the other Kakashi later. He wanted this bastard dead _now_.

All those people that he had killed… all the _suffering_ he had caused- the _war_ he had lead-!

Naruto brought his fist around in a punch so fast it would've made his father proud. The blow cashed into Kakashi's skull, sending his head bouncing on his shoulders as the skin at his temples split, one bright streak of blood appearing on his forehead as a nearly inaudible groan emitted from his throat. "That's just a sampling of what's coming for you," he hissed at the prone Akatsuki leader. "So get ready for the rest. …You _will_ pay for what you've done."

Kakashi lay there innocently, ashy gray hair flopped about by the punch to obscure what little of his face that was visible. The embodiment of everything Naruto hated- and in sleep, nothing more but a helpless slump of a man waiting to be killed.

It would happen someday. Just not today.

Naruto cast another eye over Kakashi's form, this one dedicated to examining his condition rather than imagining all the bloody, brutal things he could do to him.

Once he'd passed out from Chakra exhaustion, Naruto and Hayate had quickly dealt with him, restraining him before the advantage they'd managed to stumble upon disappeared. They'd blindfolded him and tied him up, sealed his Chakra- and then Naruto had insisted that they sedate him, too. He wasn't going to take any chances with him.

And even with all the precautions he had taken, Naruto was still suspicious that Kakashi wasn't as sedated-tied up-and-blind as he looked.

* * *

Naruto's journey to Field Country was slow and easy. Orochimaru was three days away at ANBU pace- and with Naruto's Chakra still so low and his many injuries still causing problems, such speed was impossible. So he decided to just not even bother with running and took his time- he was in no hurry, after all. Based off the pale colors of sprouting blossoms in the forests of Fire Country, it was early spring. Itachi had been killed in late winter of this year.

He had plenty of time to ensure that didn't happen.

With the casual speed he was traveling at now, he would reach Orochimaru's hideout in a week. He'd taken enough sedatives from Hayate's team to last him for twice that long, even with him giving Kakashi three times the recommended dose- again, he was taking no chances. And if he ended up poisoning the bastard and getting him sick- well, he wasn't about to lose any sleep over it.

Naruto also decided stretching out the journey would give him ample time to recover- he had no interest in meeting with Orochimaru injured, after all. Opportunist that he was, if Naruto reached him hurt and exhausted that he was now, then the Sannin would just decide to capture him so he would have _two_ time-traveling prisoners to experiment on instead of one. He would have to be at the top of his game if he wanted to be able to intimidate Orochimaru into making a deal with him rather than dominating him. Team Obito may have killed Orochimaru and Kabuto during the war, but not Naruto by himself- and that had been one battle they had barely escaped from with their lives. This wouldn't be an easy opponent to intimidate, by any means.

* * *

On his third day of ambling along a deserted road with an unconscious warmonger in tow, Naruto decided he might as well use the time to conduct some research of his own. They'd formulated a host of theories about Kakashi and his unnatural state during the war, theories that probably would've been extremely helpful to test but were impossible to look into when their subject wasn't exactly willing to lie down and be prodded with a needle. Most were still impossible for Naruto to investigate into, seeing as they were out in the wild with no access to anything helpful and Kakashi was unconscious and going to stay that way. However, there was one…

When it had been discovered that Kakashi could use Mokuton, they had turned to Yamato for aid. No one had been able to use that ability for centuries, and so it was only natural that they look to the one man who could- born in a laboratory or not. One worrisome fact that they had noticed was that Yamato healed unusually fast, recovering from injuries that should have been fatal and gaining his strength back quick from wounds that should've exhausted him for a month. Of course, it was never on par with his mother, Jinchuuriki of Kyuubi, but it was still impressive.

And they had noticed that, no matter what they hit him with, Kakashi was always back on the battlefield within a week looking as if he'd never even been touched.

Naruto smiled grimly. It was time to unravel this man's secret, once and for all.

He knelt by Kakashi's side, parting the Akatsuki robe out of his way to peer at his ribcage. In their final fight, he'd hit the bastard with a Rasen-shuriken on his left side. It should've killed him, without a doubt- the fact that he was still alive at all already pointed to some unnatural healing ability.

But when Naruto rolled up the black singlet the man wore beneath his cloak, what he saw shocked him.

There was no sign of any wound at all.

Even if Kakashi had survived being hit by one of the strongest moves in Konoha's arsenal… there should at least be _some_ sign of it. One Rasen-shuriken was enough to flatten the Hokage Tower. _How_ was there no sign of it?

There wasn't even a scar.

Even if Naruto had hit his mother with one of those, Kyuubi wouldn't have been able to heal it so well there wasn't even a scar.

He just sat there and stared in disbelief.

And then Naruto yanked the Akatsuki's robes back in place and turned sourly away, arms crossed and eyes narrow in annoyance. "Freak of nature," he muttered under his breath, leaning back against a tree in frustration and trying to sleep.

* * *

By the time Naruto reached the Country of Field, he was fully recovered, his Chakra levels were high and he was brimming with energy, and he felt more than ready for a round with Orochimaru. His theory about Obito's kamui vortex helping to heal some of his worse injuries was definitely correct, because ordinarily, wounds of the nature he'd sustained would have him bedridden for a month.

Kakashi was still definitely unconscious- and fully healed, the bastard. And his Chakra levels had recovered themselves faster than Naruto's, which was annoying to no end.

He contented himself by knowing that it wouldn't be long, now. It wouldn't be long until Kakashi was in Orochimaru's hands, and it wouldn't be long after that until he could kill him.

He relied on Sage Mode once again, both for dramatic effect and so he could actually head straight to Orochimaru and not spend hours wondering around his base. He felt out for other's Chakra- and was quite relieved to find that, aside from Orochimaru, Kabuto, and a few other unrecognizable signatures, the place was deserted. And those few unrecognizable signatures- the way they were twisted, mutated, unnatural- those weren't Sound nin, but Orochimaru's experiments. They wouldn't exactly be wondering around to cause him trouble.

His fist clenched at the thought of leaving those poor creatures to continue to suffer as the perverse Sannin's experiments, locked away in cages while Orochimaru poked and prodded at them until he killed them. But he couldn't do anything about that now… _now_ being the operative word. Once Kakashi- both of them- had been taken care of- then it would be a different story.

Naruto walked calmly forward to the unassuming entrance. He descended down the pale, limestone stairs into the earth, letting the path carry him underground. He only paused for a moment at the great double doors, the only thing barring him from entering, glancing at the two black musical notes emblazoned onto the grey stone. Those were all that stood as a warning to passerbys to not investigate further- and those that did?

Orochimaru took their curiosity and naiveté as an invitation to take them prisoner and experiment.

Naruto pushed the creaking doors open with more force than necessary and moved forward. Kakashi was slung motionlessly over his shoulders, and his head thumped against Naruto's shoulder with each step he took. It would be so easy to just lift his hand and break his scrawny little neck…

_No. Not yet. _

The blond walked through the pitch black hallways, never once bothering to even strike a match to lead the way. His Sage Mode told him exactly where Orochimaru was, and even if it hadn't, the Sannin was coming to him. They'd both felt the Chakra ripple in the air when he'd breached the protective wards surrounding the Sound Village. He knew Orochimaru could sense his both his and Kakashi's power and probably had to be wondering why two Kage level ninja were just strolling into his base without making any attempt to disguise themselves.

Naruto's easy pace came to an immediate halt when he felt that Orochimaru was only ten feet away from him. He stood still, calm, trying to entice Orochimaru into talking first and not attacking.

Sure enough, he heard another slight creak, as if a door had been opened, and then the absolute darkness was penetrated by the flickering light of a torch. He watched coolly as the torch moved forward, the firelight giving detail to the small room he found himself in- and who he found himself with.

That was Orochimaru, all right. His ageless features had not changed in the slightest since Sakura had punched him right into the next life, but he no longer wore the solid black uniform of a Sound nin, but his old beige robe and lavender rope belt. The Sannin looked calm and coldly curious, snake-like eyes watching Naruto closely, narrowed in examination- fear and animosity absent. He took another soundless step forward, moving across the dirt floor until only a few feet separated the two.

It was Orochimaru who broke the silence first, with a serpentine hiss and his inhuman tongue flicking out to lick his lips. "A junior Toad Sage. How quaint. Has Jiraiya taken to sending his students after me now?"

Naruto released his hold on the natural energy, allowing it to flow back to the environment so his eyes could revert back to their natural color. "Of course not. Then my father would be here instead of me. I'm not here to attack you, Orochimaru- I want to make a deal with you."

Orochimaru let out one quiet little chuckle, his eyes flashing in the dark. "What deals does Konoha want to make with me? And how is it that I have not heard of you? Your Chakra levels are very impressive… but I do not recognize you, beyond the fact that are a Yondaime-lookalike."

"Mind if we talk somewhere that we can see each other? I promise, I'll answer all your questions- and I'm not here to waste your time."

"Hmm." The Sannin looked him over carefully, then gave a wicked impersonation of a smile. "But I don't invite strangers into my home. Who are you? And who's your friend?" He gestured at Kakashi, and Naruto huffed.

"This bastard's not my friend, though I hope you two will get well acquainted." He shifted so the Akatsuki leader was weighing slightly less heavily on his back and smiled grimly. "And me? I know that I'm from Konoha, and that you're not exactly friends with us, but look at me. You said yourself I'm a Yondaime-lookalike. There's a reason for that. I'm a helpful ally to have, and agreeing to work with me now could wind up saving your life, dattebayo. Not to mention that what you're going to help me do will benefit you as well."

Orochimaru examined him with a critical eye. He seemed skeptical, not that Naruto could blame him- but he offered enticing possibilities, and he had to hope that that would be enough to get the Sannin to hear him out.

Sure enough, Naruto found himself being led through the dark, underground hallways, Orochimaru's black, inky hair swishing behind him as he paced through his headquarters and took his new guests somewhere where they could talk. The corridors were all small, dusty- clearly still in the process of being constructed. It seemed more like a small, out of the way hole in the ground, to be used by some tiny little criminal organization- not a hidden village. It threw Naruto for a loop, seeing the early beginnings of what, in just eight short years, would become on of the most feared hidden villages in the world.

But it had only become that way through Kakashi's influence. And he wasn't going to be around to worm his demented little way into anything in this timeline.

Finally, Naruto wound up in what appeared to be a small research lab- one of the few buildings in the underground facility with electrical lighting. He was thankful that it didn't seem to be a _human_ research lab, because, necessary or not, Naruto wouldn't have been able to focus and strike up a deal when in the presence of such acute suffering. The room was filled with countless vials and test tubes- some of them glowing with an eerie aura, others luminous in the low light, and Naruto resisted the urge to shiver. No use thinking about which one of those had come from humans.

"Well," Orochimaru murmured, slick voice intruding upon the faint silence, only previously broken by the low, monotonous and rhythmic beeps of the research machines clustered about the room. "Do you want to explain now? Or are you going to ask for tea first?"

Naruto opened his mouth to answer…

And then stopped, momentarily stuck by the mention of tea.

Oh, _tea. _He hadn't had tea in years. Not since he'd been deployed to the front lines- luxuries like _tea_ went forgotten when you spent your days breathing in acrid smoke and the scent of blood and your nights on a medic's cot or curled up in the trenches. Gods, he hadn't tea in so long, and he was nearly drooling just _thinking_ of the cool, sharp taste. And ramen! Not cheap instant ramen they'd had as a celebration when they'd killed Kakuzu, or the watery soup with chunks of unidentifiable somethings they ate when a new shipment of supplies came in- _real_, piping hot, steamy _ramen_. From_ Ichiraku_.

And a _hot bath_…

_Oh, yes-_

_No, Naruto, don't get distracted by that now!_

Meanwhile, Orochimaru was looking at him oddly, and so Naruto cleared his throat and tried to keep the longing out of his voice. "Fine. I'll explain now. …I advise you listen until I'm done, because it'll sound a bit crazy at times, but if you throw me out before I've said everything I want to then you'll regret it."

Orochimaru didn't look particularly impressed, and Naruto decided to stop dawdling and start talking.

"My name is Uzumaki Naruto." He dropped the man on his back to the floor, making no attempt to soften his six foot fall to the concrete, then pointed at him. "This is Hatake Kakashi. And we are from the future."

Orochimaru didn't laugh, but it looked like it was a near thing.

"I am Godaime Hokage. This is the leader of the Akatsuki."

Instead of losing it and laughing at that, Orochimaru's usually scornful or dark, contempt expression twisted to look almost surprised. The abnormality was gone as soon as Naruto had seen it but the Sannin was moving forward then, turning Kakashi onto his back with his foot and nudging the blindfold out of the way. Ashy hair flopped and smushed against the cloth, revealing closed eyes, one crossed over by a scar. A tiny, glistening white snake emerged from the hem of Orochimaru's sleeve, slithering through the air to lift the scarred eyelid, revealing the Sharingan.

Next second, the snake shot back to hiss quietly underneath Orochimaru's shirt once again, and the Sannin looked like an odd mix between disbelief and being impressed. "I would doubt you- but I met Kakashi myself two years ago. No one else has a transplanted Sharingan in this world- and this man looks many years older than the one I last met. They are not the same man. …This is either a ridiculously elaborate plot, or- you are telling the truth."

Naruto remained still and silent, watching as the Sannin contemplate this new information. He was a genius, Naruto knew that- he would be logical about this. And the only logical conclusion was that he was telling the truth.

Finally, Orochimaru gestured with one unnaturally pale hand towards a lab table and features stretching in a creepy smile- or perhaps he was just showing his teeth sharpened to the point of being fangs. "I think we should sit down. It seems we have much to talk about after all, _Godaime."_

* * *

Naruto told Orochimaru…

Mostly nothing, really.

The details of the war- not pertinent. The details of the Akatsuki- hardly relevant. All those who had died, what Kakashi had done, the horrors the world had gone through- not related to what Naruto was going to be asking the Sannin for. He couldn't bear to talk about the destruction he'd seen, not when the memories of it were still so vivid and horrific. He didn't want to talk about his friends dying- not when the knowledge that they were truly alive and well was so surreal he still almost could not believe it.

He couldn't handle speaking of his team when Sasuke was dead, Obito was dying, and Sakura was so broken any hope of her happiness was lost to the war that had taken them all.

After this was over, he would go home to Konoha and take a nice, long break. With the people he loved, who were _alive_ again. It didn't matter that they were eight years too young, that Sasuke was a gangly youth while he was almost as old as Iruka, it didn't matter Sakura was a happy girl who still shopped in the kid's section at clothing stores and that he now had more in common with Obito and his father than he did his own generation. None of that mattered… just seeing them again, seeing them smile and laugh and _breathe_ again would be enough.

But that was when this was over- and both Kakashis were dead.

Neither were dead yet.

"I want you to help me kill the Kakashi of this time period." Naruto's words were flat and carefully unemotional- the dark, furious hatred he felt for the man not making an appearance. It was probably obvious anyway, given the murderous glares he kept sending in Kakashi's direction, but it felt necessary to try and put off an air like he was in charge and in control of himself. Years of being Hokage had given him the strength to appear professional and think with his head and not his heart- even when his heart was screaming at him and his blood was pounding with the need to _kill that bastard- _

"During the war, the Nara were unable to come up with anything really that compelling to use against him. I decided to seek a second opinion. That, and Konoha absolutely can not be involved int his. No one from the village can find out that- that- they just can not be involved."

Orochimaru cocked his head to the side curiously. "Why is that? I'd think _you,_ of all people, would want to rely on your village. You do become Hokage, after all. And unless I undergo some drastic character evolution in the future and end up fighting on your side- if so, warn me so I can kill myself now- there is no reason for you to come to me."

Naruto shifted uneasily. Just because he was willing to work with Orochimaru didn't mean he wanted to spell out his life's story to him.

That, and he still didn't trust the Sannin, and knowing that Kakashi could be used as one powerful piece of leverage against the Fourth Hokage… well, that wasn't something he planned to divulge to Orochimaru anytime soon.

Standing, he crossed the room, turning his back to Orochimaru so his expression could twist uneasily. He fiddled in his weapon's pouch, searching for the syringe and the tiny bag of crushed herbs taken from Hayate's squad. He prepared another dose of the sedative and began to speak, voice sounded absentminded and almost distracted. "This is a business transaction, Orochimaru. Do we really have to share everything?"

"Interesting. Did I strike a nerve?"

Naruto jammed the sedative into Kakashi's upper arm with more force than necessary, then stood and whipped back around to face the Sannin. "Orochimaru, this is a deal we both need to make. Don't stress it unnecessarily by asking stupid questions it's clear I don't want to answer."

Orochimaru hissed slightly, tongue slipping out from behind his teeth. Naruto was half surprised to see that it wasn't forked, the way it and the rest of his body had ended up being degraded into more than half snake in the future. "Huh. Well, I always find out what I really want to know… one way or another. Which you should know, if you are really are from the future."

"Whatever." Naruto stood again, walking over to jump and sit back on the lab table. "_Anyway_- he has the Sharingan and Mokuton. How exactly he got either of those two abilities, we never figured out- but… Uchiha Madara was involved."

Orochimaru inhaled sharply. It took a lot to make the Sannin display signs of shock, but the mention of Madara's involvement seemed to do the trick. "What?" he muttered, alien eyes narrowing, mouth opening slightly in a dark kind of surprise. "…How is this possible?"

Naruto shrugged slightly. "Actually, I had no idea he was involved until Kakashi himself told me. …I'm still half-convinced he's lost his mind."

"I see." Orochimaru's disbelief vanished, though Naruto wasn't sure what the man was really thinking- he wasn't one that was easy to read, and Naruto and never particularly cared to get to know him, anyway.

Clearing his throat, Naruto crossed his legs and put on an air off nonchalance, moving the discussion away from long-dead-or-possibly-not Uchiha. "I know that you're a genius. I know that you have experience with studying and resurrecting kekkei genkai that have already died out. You… you were one of Kakashi's commanders, in the war- I've seen how you fight. That brings me to the deal I want to make with you. …I will give you this Kakashi here. You can work with him, study him, and I'll answer any questions you have- devise a strategy to defeat him. All I ask is that, when you're done with him, I be the one to kill him."

Orochimaru leaned to brace his head against his hand. He looked over Naruto as if examining him, serpentine eyes betraying nothing but a cool curiosity. Finally, he cleared his throat and nodded, but he hardly seemed to be agreeing to anything. "Let me ask you this. If Kakashi is really this strong you're coming to _me_ for help- then how exactly did you defeat this one here?" He pointed at the Akatsuki leader collapsed on the cold floor and hissed again, and Naruto flushed.

"I ran into a few Konoha jounins a few days after we arrived in the past. They helped."

"So why don't you take these mysteriously powerful nameless Konoha jounins to help you kill the other one?"

Naruto crossed his arms sourly and looked away. "It didn't exactly go like that. We… kind of got… _lucky_."

"Ooh. Lucky? Do tell."

Naruto frowned. Orochimaru sounded far too gleeful about this. "Long story short… he had just, um… beaten us when he- when he- …passed out. Chakra exhaustion."

It was blissfully quiet for three long seconds.

And then Orochimaru cackled, leaning back in his chair and tilting his head back, laughing uproariously. "Oh, this is rich!" he exclaimed, a slight hissing, pleased undertone entering his speech as he continued. "He had already _won_. You just got lucky- _extremely_ lucky."

"Why don't you try fighting him, then, Mr. Confident?!" Naruto snapped. "But don't come crying to me when he cuts your snakey head off!"

The Sannin continued to hiss and chuckle, but at least he wasn't being the definition of annoying now. "All right, all right. You've got yourself a deal, Naruto. But… you _did_ mention that this would be worth my while, and you have yet to explain how this will benefit me anymore than it benefits you."

Naruto tried to stop glaring at him. "Right. That. Well, if you only give me a strategy to help kill him, then research into the Mokuton and the Sharingan and the future Fifth Hokage owing you a favor, should be enough. However… if you agree to fight with me to kill the other Kakashi- which would definitely be greatly appreciated- then I'll do more for you."

"Keep talking, I'm listening."

He nodded slightly. "Well, I'm obviously not in a position to do much for you now. But I can promise that when I'm made Godaime, you'll be given amnesty for all of your _past_ crimes."

"Why exactly would I want that?"

"I won't be able to hunt you down and kill you. Given that you don't keep abducting people, conducting illegal experiments on them, and building up armies to attack the other hidden villages."

Orochimaru looked almost amused. A few moment passed in silence, and then the Sannin licked his lips and stood. "Fine. You get your deal, Godaime. But I don't see any point in raising your expectations- I'm not exactly going to be turning over a new leaf when this whole charade is finished. Although I will agree to help you fight Kakashi… I'd like to settle an old score with him."

Naruto sighed. Expected, but regrettable. It seemed that Konoha and Orochimaru would continue to be enemies. "I see. Thanks for what you're willing to do, I guess. …Wait a minute- how do you know Kakashi? You mentioned before that you'd met."

The Sannin shrugged. "Two years ago, he approached me to join the Akatsuki. I was interested- in the end, however, it turned out that he wasn't so interested after all. He doesn't like people that aren't team players, and I only get involved when there's personal gain in it for me. He's been after me ever since, because I know too much about his organization to be walking around freely- since I don't take too kindly to being hunted, I'd like to just kill him and be done with it."

That didn't exactly jibe with what ended up happening. Orochimaru and Kakashi had been allies for three years before Obito had taken them to the past.

Well, it seemed even the unflappable leader of the Akatsuki agreed to make unsavory deals when he was desperate.

Naruto took a moment to be satisfied that they had, in fact, pushed the man to be desperate- then remembered that, oh, right, that war had been Kakashi's eight ninja against the two thousand of the hidden villages. It shouldn't have _taken_ that much to make him desperate.

Naruto stood as well, reaching out to shake Orochimaru's cold hand. "It's a deal, then. Even though I'm sure I'll wind up regretting it."

Orochimaru grinned, or perhaps he was just showing off his teeth. "Most do."

Naruto glanced darkly at Kakashi. "It's worth it, though. He ends up doing worse to Konoha than you ever could. …We need to have taken out Kakashi before October of this year- that's nonnegotiable. I want you to be finished planning at least a month before then."

Orochimaru thought for a moment, then gave a slight nod. "Not a problem. But I hope you don't mind me asking that you find somewhere else to stay until then- I'd rather not have the future Godaime browse about my research for half a year. I'd like to keep my secrets; I'm sure you understand." He smiled with a hiss again.

Naruto shrugged. "Fine with me. I'll stay in the area so you can contact me if you have to."

Orochimaru nodded, turning away. "One last thing, Naruto… is there anything stopping me from just taking you now and _experimenting_ on you as well?" His voice sounded almost wickedly hopeful, and Naruto laughed loudly, turning so he faced Orochimaru's back.

"Nothing, really. Just the fact that my team and I killed you in the future. And right now- I know all of your abilities, and you know none of mine. You're smart. You don't want to fight me, because you'd lose."

Orochimaru turned to look over his shoulder at him- looking none to pleased. His inhuman eyes were narrowed in dislike, pale features twisted in suspicion- and then he gave a slow nod. "You're right. I don't want to fight you."

The unspoken _yet_ was obvious.

Naruto turned to leave himself. "I'll show myself out," he muttered, then stopped when he came to the door, hand on the knob. "Oh, yes, I almost forgot. I'm sure you'll be tempted to use Kakashi as your next body. Well, if those temptations turn into actions, not only will our deal be off, but you will have a very angry Akatsuki after you, with me by their side. I can guarantee that you won't survive that."

Orochimaru didn't look very surprised or intimidated. He just gave a slight nod, one that indicated understanding rather than agreement, and swept silently over to pick up the Akatsuki leader. When his enemy didn't deign to speak again, Naruto decided to say one last thing before he got out of here.

"Just remember- when you're done with him, I get to kill him."


	6. Arc Two 2

Thank you for reviewing! Yes, Naruto will regret involving Orochimaru ;) Orochimaru never makes anything better. For those wondering when Naruto wants to do something to Kakashi besides kill him, that happens next arc :) Enjoy!

* * *

_Five weeks later, in Konoha_

"Minato-sama, we have an emergency."

Minato groaned.

That was probably number three on his list of things he just didn't like to hear, right behind Naruto yelling that he'd dropped something- ramen was _so_ difficult to get out of his Hokage cloak, and that's _always_ what he meant- and Kushina screaming that he'd forgotten something with that dark, accusatory look in her eye that meant he'd be spending the night on the couch. _Minato-sama, we have an emergency _usually meant he'd be working late that night, up to his eyeballs in paperwork, and he'd have to deal with Iwa or Kiri trying to stir up trouble in _his_ village. _Again_.

"…Minato-sama?"

Minato blinked, then allowed himself to get sucked back into the hell that was unending responsibility and looked towards his door. It was Inoichi- a man not prone to over exaggeration and who did not jump to conclusions. If _he_ said there was an emergency, then the situation was serious.

"What's going on?"

The man shrugged slightly, walking forward to stand in front of his desk. "The situation's a bit complicated. You see, about six weeks ago, Gekko Hayate's squad returned from what was supposed to be a routine recon- no battles were expected. …When they got back to Konoha, three out of the five were in critical condition, and the other two weren't talking as to how they got that way."

Minato frowned. He'd heard some rumors about trouble on Hayate's last mission- but it hadn't been considered serious. In fact, he'd already sent Hayate himself out on his next mission. "So, what's the problem?"

Inoichi shifted uneasily. He reached back to tighten his ponytail, as if he'd had a _long_ day, then sighed. "Well, the medics noticed one had been placed under a genjutsu. Since the missions parameters gave no reason for that to have happened, and the others weren't talking, they put him down for the obligatory mind-reading. Just to be safe, of course."

Minato nodded slightly. That was procedure, in cases like these. Still, nothing to classify this as an emergency. "And…"

"And I finally got around to it. …We have a serious problem, Hokage-sama."

Inoichi's voice was dark and grim, and, without warning, the Yamanaka approached so he was directly in front of his desk, fingers coming together in what Minato recognized as one of his personal techniques. "The most direct route is for me to show you what happened to that squad. It will take about half an hour for you to see the memory. Hokage-sama?"

Minato only remained unsure for a moment. The serious look in Inoichi's eyes- he had _never_ before seen the man so grave- made his decision for him. "Proceed."

The half hour came and went, and by it's end, Minato looked even worse than Inoichi.

And while the Yamanaka talked, the Fourth Hokage just sat there and stared blankly, uncomprehending.

It couldn't be true. He shook his head weakly, finding himself leaning forward to bury his face in his hands. It wasn't true- it could not be. But that man in the memory…

_That mask. That hair. That scar. And he used Chidori. _

_And the enemy… the enemy CALLED HIM Kakashi._

But that just didn't make any sense, because Kakashi had died thirteen years ago.

Unless… he hadn't.

They had never recovered a body. He remembered that vividly, he remembered dragging Rin and Obito away from the cave-in, telling them that it was no good, Kakashi was buried too deep among the rocks for anyone to get him out now. Kakashi wasn't the only ninja whose body was never recovered during the war- but after a tenuous truce was formed, what was left of Team Minato had gone back to the site of where they were irrevocably broken and searched. They'd spent hours searching, clearing out rocks, scouring dusty, scuffed earth- but it was no use. They never found anything. Not even one single bone.

Minato had worried a little at that. It was assumed that his body had degraded away into nothing, and his bones were pulverized by the rocks- but he hadn't been able to completely throw off his suspicion. Not even _one single_ bone had survived to be found? Not even one?

Now he knew why.

"…with the transplanted Sharingan and the Mokuton- and the other enemy was impersonating you, as well- I thought you should be informed as soon as possible, Hokage-sama."

Minato blinked. He found himself looking through his fingers at Inoichi, staring at the man in confusion. What on earth was he rambling on about?

_Oh!_

"Ah, yes," he said uncomfortably, sitting up straighter and rubbing a hand over his face. "Right. Mokuton… impersonating… right, that's it." Because Inoichi hadn't shown him that because of Kakashi- he had no idea who Kakashi was. He had shown him that because of stolen Konoha kekkei genkai and that other guy was impersonating him-

_That other guy._

That blond bastard that Kakashi had been fighting. He had Kakashi now. Kakashi had lost, collapsing in a haze of exhaustion, and that son of a bitch had blindfolded him and tied him up and _sedated_ him.

His fists clenched at the idea of an enemy with Kakashi. _His_ student, damn it; _no one_ was going to be hurting his student again. What if that was the bastard that had had Kakashi all this time? Because he must have been held captive; there was no other explanation.

The idea of Kakashi being held prisoner for _thirteen years_, though… while his team just enjoyed happiness in Konoha, leading on their peaceful lives- it made him physically ill.

He barely managed to maintain the foresight of mind to keep himself looking calm. It wouldn't do to incite panic now. "Th-thank you, Inoichi," Minato choked out, unseeing eyes staring straight through him. It was hard to keep himself grounded in the present with all the memories roiling about in his head now, all clamoring furiously for attention. "Summon… summon Obito and Rin for me, please. Tell them it's an emergency."

"Of course, Hokage-sama."

Minato just kept staring at the spot where the man had stood, full minutes after he had swept silently out the door.

Finally, heart pounding, he reached with shaky fingers to one of two framed photographs on his desk.

Kakashi was glaring at the camera. Obito was glaring at him. Rin stood in between the two, beaming in excitement at the camera, while Minato stood behind them all, hands firmly stuck in his two angry students' hair, holding them in place to stop Kakashi from walking off and Obito from throwing himself at him. It wasn't really a genin team photo- Kakashi had already been a chuunin for three years when Obito and Rin had graduated, and he was placed on a team.

Oh, how Kakashi had complained about that- snapping that he didn't want to babysit two weakling genin, that why couldn't Minato just stay his mentor like he always had been, and teaming him up with those two kids would just slow him down. And Minato had laughed at the tiny ninja's tirade, saying that he had to learn how to be on a team- and Kakashi had pouted furiously and stomped off to go train.

It had taken a bit of work to get Kakashi to accept the fact his teammates could be something more than hindrances. But in the six years between him joining a genin team and his jounin promotion, Kakashi had grown from arrogant and angry at the world to be almost content. Minato had never seem him that happy.

And then he'd been killed, and their team had never been the same again.

Except he hadn't been killed, had he?

Minato brushed his thumb over the dust covering Kakashi's bored masked face. And then he couldn't stand it anymore; he hugged the picture close to his chest and hung his head, shoulders trembling with a terrible guilt, heart throbbing with one of the worst pains he had ever known. He closed his eyes but it didn't help; horrific images of that bastard blond pulling Kakashi's mangled body from the cave-in played in his mind like some kind of macabre version of his worst nightmares. And that new, adult Kakashi in chains, tortured, interrogated, screaming against his mask-

_You don't know that happened, Minato! You don't know what he did to Kakashi. You don't know what happened. Don't overreact and let your mind go on overdrive. Don't… don't.. don't…_

Minato hugged the picture tighter and shivered.

His thick doors swinging open broke into his own little world- or nightmare- and an explosion of voices brought light to his dark imaginings. "And I'm _telling_ you, Rin, they're not porn! They're really not! They're adventure romance novels!"

"Stop trying to pull this wool over my eyes. I've read some of that Icha Icha trash- it's _porn!_ It can't be described any other way! You're sleeping on the couch for the next _month_, you hentai bastard, don't touch me- I can't _b__elieve_ you've been reading them all this time-"

"But they're really not porn! Sensei! Sensei, you read them, would you tell Rin they're not po- … Minato-sensei?"

Minato slowly raised his eyes to see his two remaining students standing nervously in his office. The argument between the two seemed to have died out when they say how distraught he was, worry and concern replacing petty anger and irritation. It struck him then just how much they had grown, then, grown up from this two broken chuunins who'd just lost a teammate into two fine jounin, the Hero of the White Flame and the Jinchuuriki of the Sanbi, known worldwide for their power and bravery.

And then there was Kakashi, who looked so different yet so much the same, who had grown up now in obscurity, his name only mentioned in a handful records and thought of by precious few.

_Oh, god, Kakashi, am I sorry… _

"Minato-sensei?" Rin asked, taking a hesitant step forward. "What's wrong?"

Obito moved forward as well when he opened his mouth soundlessly, the words stuck in his throat. The Uchiha reached forward to touch the picture he held so tightly, pulling it out of his arms when he didn't resist. Minato saw the surprise, then concern, there, when they saw it was their genin team picture.

"Sensei?" he called, voice purposefully loud and obtrusive, as if trying to break him out of his trance. He jumped up to sit on the edge of his desk, black eyes trying to meet his. "What's the emergency? Why were you looking at this? …Something really bad's happened, hasn't it?"

Minato swallowed the lump in his throat, made himself nod. "Y-y… Yes." Except it wasn't bad, it was fantastic news, but what if Kakashi was captured and being hurt _right now?_ Weren't the last _thirteen years_ enough, except he didn't know what had happened to him for those thirteen years, just that he was going to kill that blond bastard for taking Kakashi away when he was so close to home and he hadn't even known it-

"Sensei! Sensei, what's going on? Talk to us!"

He had to just open his mouth and say it. They had just as much a right to know as he did. He wouldn't be killing that blond son of a bitch, _they_ would- Kakashi wasn't just _his_ student, he was a member of their team. They were all in this together.

Minato took a deep breath, looked from the photograph in Obito's hand to Obito himself, then Rin, and closed his eyes.

"Kakashi is alive."

It was a good few seconds before Obito and Rin did anything more than stare at him.

Finally, Rin stumbled forward to sit on the other side of his desk, across from Obito. Her normally warm brown eyes were wide with disbelief, jaw slack, staring at him like he'd just grown a second head. "W-what?"

Her voice was trembling, and she was looking at him as if she didn't believe him- not that he blamed her.

Just when Minato opened his mouth to reply, Obito interrupted.

It was with a short, angry bark of a laugh, onyx eyes narrow in anger and arms crossed firmly over his chest. "Yeah, not funny, Sensei. If you called us up here just for one of your stupid ideas you call pranks, then why don't you try it on your son instead. We've got work to do. Rin, come-"

"Obito, this isn't a prank."

"Yeah, well, Kakashi's dead."

Obito's cold voice, the dead certainty in his reply- it reflected how they'd all felt after their last mission as a four-man squad. Minato looked up to see the Uchiha watching him with a steady glare, features twisted in anger- in a cold refusal to accept what he was trying to say. "I thought so, too," he began gently, "but I saw it. In the memory. It couldn't be anybody else; he had his hair, that mask- _the scar_- the enemy even called him Kakashi, Obit-"

"I don't care if he looked like Kakashi _underneath_ that stupid mask, _it wasn't him!_ He was dead in that cave, Sensei," Obito jumped back down to the floor and started to pace back and forth across the small office. His shaking hands were crossed tightly across his chest, and as Minato watched, eyes black as night flashed red with emotion. "You _told_ me he was dead yourself! You _told_ us when we begged you to let us go back and get him, you said he was dead!"

"Had his heart stopped beating?"

Minato's quiet question stopped Obito in his tracks. His dark-haired student froze, turning to face him with an expression somewhere between disbelief and fury. He shook his head wordlessly, not in an answer but at his refusal to either confirm or deny it, and Minato tried to smile but failed.

"Rin can tell you that if the heart hasn't stopped, then there's a chance they can be brought back."

"_His entire right side was crushed!_"

"But he had a pulse when we left him!"

Obito turned slowly to face his wife. The fiery little medic was on her feet as well, expression stricken with- with what could've been hope, Minato thought, hope mixed in with a shocked disbelief. "He had a pulse- even when Sensei came to get me out of the cave… he had a pulse. Someone like Tsunade-sama could've done it. …He could've been saved, Obito."

Obito remained frozen, perfectly still, for just one single second. And just when Minato thought he'd gotten through to him, the man shook his head again, slamming his fist down against the wall. "We've been through this before. We've been through the million and one ways that mission could've gone differently and we could've saved him. But we didn't! What's the point in talking about what could've happened if Tsunade were there- the point is, she _wasn't_ there! There were no super strong magical healers wandering around that day."

"That we know about."

"Sensei-!"

"_He used Chidori, Obito!_ The memory I saw- _he used Chidori!_"

Obito froze mid-rant. His mouth was half-open, about to protest but abruptly caught off guard by Minato's last statement. He sucked in a surprised breath, as if in preparation to talk, but no words followed it.

"Jiraiya is the only person who knows Rasengan that is not a member of my team," Minato continued, voice softer, gentler now that he wasn't trying to outmatch Obito's shouting. "You two know it, and Kakashi- I taught him, before… well, it's just my team and Jiraiya. Chidori is just a lightening version of it, just like your Shiro-hi is a fire version of it, and Rin's Kurenjingu-Kyuutai is a water version of it. No one else can use my jutsu. The moment I saw him use Chidori… it has to be him, Obito. I know that it's been thirteen years, I know that we thought he was dead, I- I _know_ that I told you that he was dead. But I was wrong."

He smiled gently again, fueling the tiny, hopeful grin already on Rin's face and trying to dispel the despair he saw in Obito's. "Kakashi is alive. But he's in trouble, and he needs our help. Can he count on us, or am I going to have to leave you out because you can't accept it?"

It was harsh, and he knew it. But tough love was always the best approach with Obito. And, sure enough, after a few moments of his expression staying still and dark- it cleared. His frown was replaced by a determined smile, and he nodded, eyes bright and features unclouded.

"He can count on us, Sensei."

* * *

Jutsu

Shiro-hi: White Flame

Kurenjingu-Kyuutai: Cleansing Orb


	7. Arc Two 3

Thank you for reviewing! Finally divided out the next part into chapters. Kakashi and Naruto's relationship starts to change (and it changes quickly) in chapter 11. So, look forward to that ;)

* * *

It was only two short days since Minato had first learned his student was alive that a retrieval team set out from Konoha. Obito in charge, commanding Rin, Ibiki, Inoichi, and Aburame Shibi in what was officially classified as a investigation into the ruins of the small Hidden Village of Caves. A hidden village that didn't exist- that never had. Ibiki, Inoichi, and Shibi were only aware that it was a highly classified hostage recovery mission.

Only Rin and Obito knew just who it was they were retrieving.

Ibiki and Inoichi were coming along as a precaution. Team Minato had all been ready to jump at the opportunity to torture the mysterious Minato-impersonator that had taken Kakashi prisoner, and Obito had made a passing comment about how Ibiki should do it to show the blond bastard how Team Minato reacted to someone trying to hurt their friends. The idea had sounded better and better the more they tossed it about, until Minato just decided to send Ibiki along just in case they had to get information in the field from the man who'd taken Kakashi captive.

That was how Inoichi got sent along, too. Just in case Ibiki wasn't enough.

The man knew how to make mind-readings hurt, and his instructions were to make it hurt as much as he could.

Aburame Shibi was coming along because he was one of the best trackers in Konoha, and they needed that.

Rin and Obito were coming along, of course, because _nothing_ was keeping them off this mission.

Minato had seem them off at the gate, regretful he could not go himself- and the two students promised that they would not be returning without the third.

The small but deadly retrieval squad didn't have much of a place to start- Kakashi was supposed to be dead, and no one had any idea who the mysterious, unnamed blond was- so Obito took his squad out to the wrecked cabin in the woods. It was the only lead they had.

The others stood back while Shibi did his work- standing amidst the ruined wreckage of the cabin, hands out, black swarms of bugs forming tiny, darting clouds about the clearing while his team watched. Well, Ibiki and Inoichi watched- Obito paced frantically while Rin stared at the ground, fists tight, eyes hooded in worry. Even before any of his bugs had returned, though, Shibi looked at the desperate team captain, appraising his nervous stride with cautious eyes, then spoke.

"This method of tracking is reliable, but takes time. It can take over a month to correctly trace a path that took your target a week. And if he goes into any kind of civilization, where there are other people- then I can't tell you a thing."

"Well, we have to track them," Obito snapped. "Figure something out."

"There's nothing to figure out. If we got into civilization, it won't work; my bugs are colorblind, as are most of the insects they talk to for information. If it's not someone whose Chakra they are familiar with, then they'll lose track of them quite quickly when there are other humans to contend with. Perhaps if you hadn't waited for six weeks, an Inuzuka would be able to do mo-"

"Just because we're six weeks too late doesn't mean a thing! We _have_ to get him back! Just- just figure something out!"

Rin interceded before her understandably- but unhelpfully emotional- husband could make things worse. "Obito, stop. This is a mission. There's no point fighting- just try and figure out a solution. Shibi- look, I understand you're not naturally a tracker, and that your method takes a long time, but it's worth it! And if K- the prisoner ends up going into civilization, then- then we can just figure out how to modify your technique there-"

"You aren't listening to me. There's no _modifying_ it to make it work. Even the animals they could talk to that weren't colorblind probably won't have noticed the hostage if it's in an area like a village- humans all look the same to them. That's like me asking you if the bird's nest we passed a while back are the same birds you saw yesterday. You don't have any idea, because-"

"But we _have to!_" For chastising her husband for just the same thing, Rin was quick to get emotional and lose her cool. "If we lose him now we won't find him again! We can't give him up now, not after how long it's been! Shibi, you have to-"

"If you want me to be able to find your long-lost friend, distant relative, _whoever _is so important, then you're going to have to be quiet so I can focus."

Rin stared at him for a moment, then looked away and crossed her arms stiffly. Obito's pacing took him near her again, and this time he stopped, drawing her close to his with a protective arm around her shoulder. The contact was more to comfort both of them than just her, and they stood together the rest of the time it took for Shibi's bugs to return. He closed his eyes, letting the tiny black creatures crawl up into his coat and concentrating- then he turned and pointed into the forest.

"They said that after the fight here, two humans went in that direction. One was carrying the other. Is that what we're looking for?"

Obito and Rin glanced at each other, and then the dark-haired man and took the lead without a word.

* * *

Ibiki had to remind Obito that teams generally _stopped_ at night to get the Uchiha to give them the signal to rest. It was half past midnight when he did, and both he and Rin appeared genuinely surprised to find out it had somehow gotten so late while they tracked Kakashi and his captor. They camped by the side of the road, Inoichi unpacking some of their more savory rations and cooking it into a stew- a stew that Obito and Rin only picked at, mumbling about how they weren't hungry.

They both also agreed to handle keeping watch that night- shrugging simultaneously when their teammates questioned them and muttering that they weren't tired. It was only half a lie; they may have been tired, but both of them knew sleep would be impossible with the issue weighing on their minds.

Sure enough, after a full hour of watching his wife toss and turn, Obito got to watch her just give up and walk over to join him. "Couldn't sleep," she mumbled, sliding under his arm and daring him to question her.

He just shrugged, shifting slightly to better accommodate her. "I'm sure Sensei's keeping Kushina up right now. No one in Team Minato is sleeping tonight. …Probably including- well, you know."

"Mmm, yes. Sanbi's been trying to keep me company, but he doesn't really understand the whole deal about teammates. Says that if we're meant to be reunited, it'll just happen naturally- nothing we can do about it." She let out a loud sigh at that and shook her head. "I decided I liked listening to you better."

"Can't blame you; I _am_ a better conversationalist than a giant turtle, after all."

Rin rolled her eyes but stayed silent, and their discussion came across a short respite after that. She shifted closer to Obito in his bedroll and looked to the flickering fire, unconsciously squeezing the Uchiha's hand. "…Thirteen years. What do you think he's been up to?"

"He hasn't come home in all this time. Someone must've been stopping him from doing so."

Rin chuckled without real humor. "That's why we're on this mission, isn't it- to kill the guy who took him and kept him away from us. And bring him home, of course. But… I can't help but think… Obito, thirteen years is a _long_ time to be held captive. And he clearly got a Sharingan somehow, and- and _Mokuton_. I know that we sometimes use prisoners of war for medical experiments, but abilities like that? It doesn't make any sense." She shook her head. "Besides, since, according to Sensei, he can use the Sharingan and Mokuton pretty well- or did against Hayate's squad, anyway- you would think whoever put them in him would know they were successful. Put them in someone else."

"What's your point?"

"My _point_ is we haven't heard anything about Mokuton or stolen Sharingan in the thirteen years since he… we thought he died. It doesn't add up."

Obito frowned. "None of this has added up since the beginning. …You know, I've been thinking myself about this- I have no idea where he got a Sharingan from. No Uchiha has lost an eye in the thirteen years he's been missing. And we overload the eyes of dead Uchiha with Chakra so their Sharingan are rendered unusable. …I have no idea where he could've gotten it from."

Rin paused. She looked away to the ground and gnawed on her lip uncertainly, shifting uneasily. Obito noticed and glanced down at her, eyes narrowing slightly. "What? What are you thinking?"

She drew her knees up to her chest and rested her chin on them, staring sightlessly at the fire. "I just remembered something. …Medical experiments and the Mokuton? Ring any bells?"

Obito blinked. He remained blank for a moment, then smiled slightly and nodded. "Of course- Tenzou!"

Rin didn't smile back. "And who _gave_ Tenzou his Mokuton in the first place?"

Obito's expression darkened at that. His smile faded away to be replaced by horror and despair. He opened and shut his mouth soundlessly before managing to choke out, "Orochimaru. Rin- you don't think-"

"He was expelled from the village _because_ of illegal medical experiments on humans. We know he can put the Mokuton in people because he's _done it_ before. It would also explain why Sensei said he didn't _look _like a prisoner- well-fed, dressed well- I'm sure Orochimaru's smart enough to at least feed his research projects."

"And he already knew at least _some_ medical ninjutsu when he went rogue," Obito continued, eyes wide. "Enough to have been able to save Kakashi, you think?"

Rin shrugged noncommittally. "It wasn't far beyond my skills. If we'd been able to get Kakashi out from under the rocks and had been in a hospital at the time, not surrounded by the enemy and in the wild, then… perhaps… I don't know how skilled of a medic Orochimaru was back then, but it's possible. If he'd found Kakashi in time, then…" she trailed off and bit her lip. When her eyes met Obito's again, they were wide and filled with worry, fear- and the Uchiha didn't look much better. She spoke again, voice nothing but a tremulous whisper, fingers winding tightly around Obito's in disbelief. "You don't think… has Orochimaru- he's had Kakashi all this time, hasn't he?"

The horrified look in Obito's eyes answered her question without him having to say a single word.

"He must have escaped," the Uchiha finally managed, voice weak and stricken with disbelief. "In that memory Minato-sensei saw- he must have escaped and was trying to come home."

Rin's eyes filled with tears, and she buried her head in Obito's neck.

Obito bowed his head, tightened his hold on his wife, and shivered.

"We left him there," Rin whispered, voice more than half a sob. "We left him there for _thirteen years_. We just- we _abandoned_ him to Orochimaru while we went on living, just ignorant of everything he was going through- we- …what do you think was happening to him on our wedding day? When Minato-sensei was made Hoakge? When his son was born?" The questions were slow, in a a stilted succession, and were forced to stop when her voice broke and she was sobbing too hard to continue.

Obito didn't try to comfort her this time.

It wasn't that he didn't want to. It wasn't as if he _liked _listening to her cry.

It was that she was right.

Minato had given a few half-hearted tries to convincing them otherwise, saying that they hadn't known, they couldn't have done a thing, and what was important was that they were going after him now. But the Fourth Hokage wasn't exactly making them feel any better when it was clear he felt just as they did.

_It's ironic, _he thought bitterly, that they would spend all this time blaming themselves for his death, when they could've been blaming themselves for him being alive and not home.

He never had been a fan of irony.

"Kn-knowing Bakashi," he stammered, but his voice cracked and he gave up all attempts at holding onto the fragile shards of his composure. "…Knowing him, he'll chastise us the m-moment he sees us. _What took you so long, _and _I was just about to get myself out of here, _and- and _I'm better and smarter than y-y-you…_"

The shattered remnants of Team Minato clung to each other that night, only held together by the tenuous hope that when they returned, there would be three of them.

_Back with Naruto_

"I already gave him permission to do whatever he wants. I'm not a medic or even that smart with this stuff. He can do whatever he feels necessary."

Naruto wished that Kabuto's voice had changed along with his appearance when the young medic replied- a young medic that would end up as one of the most powerful, feared shinobi in the world that was now hardly more than an errand boy. "I understand that, but Orochimaru-sama still wanted your opinion. The time constraints you put on him are stringent, and so he's wary of performing any worthless experiments."

Naruto groaned loudly. He made it a point to stare at Kabuto's leg instead of his face, because _that_ was bringing back bad memories, and tried to not complain. He supposed he should be glad Orochimaru was at least making an effort at keeping him informed- or, more likely, making an effort at _looking _like he was keeping him informed. But, somehow, he couldn't find it in him.

Little Kabuto had come running out here looking more like a hapless genin than anything else, clearly looking for him. Naruto knew better than to fall for his innocent act; the kid had been doing ROOT missions since he was ten and his best routine was to hide his true potential and appear to be weaker than he really was. He was probably continuing to do so under Orochimaru's orders now- which merely gave Naruto reason to be suspicious of a double crossing.

So he let Kabuto have his fun with his little obedient _I'm-just-a-paper-pusher_ act, all the while waiting to be stabbed in the back.

Orochimaru had sent him out to tell Naruto that he was a bit at a loss, since it was really impossible for him to see Kakashi fight now. Devising a strategy for fighting against him now would be pretty damn difficult based off just a limp body to work with. Orochimaru wanted to see firsthand how Kakashi fought- and it seemed there was a way to do that without putting his life in danger by going after the younger Kakashi.

It seemed, in his years digging in dark holes and searching through haunted caverns in the middle of nowhere, Orochimaru had discovered a few certain, rare materials. After more fiddling in the lab, he'd cultivated a poison that could force someone to mentally relive their entire life. And Orochimaru had stolen a few Yamanaka techniques that would let him see just what Kakashi was remembering.

Not only would this show exactly how the Akatsuki leader fought, but it would also show just how he got the Mokuton and Sharingan, which could end up being helpful as well.

Naruto was having problems giving a damn about that, though, when he was busy trying not co compare what looked like a helpless genin to the dastardly criminal mastermind he remembered.

"…Godaime?"

He managed a distracted nod, still staring determinedly at the ground. "Do what you want. Go back to your master and tell him that."

"I will."

There was a short silence, an awkward one, before Naruto finally chanced a look at Kabuto.

The differences were absolutely glaring.

The man- no, the _boy_ before him was no Snake Sage. The pale markings around his eyes and the flashy golden pupils were gone. His skin was no longer ashen, white as snow, but rather a normal shade that didn't bespeak of the dead or deathly ill. Instead of the dark auburn cloak he'd adopted after becoming a sage, he wore his old, dark purple, sleeveless uniform, trademark black glasses perched on the edge of his nose. His pale grey hair was still short, drawn back into a sharp ponytail- not the long, flowing silver it turned into, hanging free down past his waist.

Naruto himself didn't know how truly skilled Kabuto was, even at this point in time, but he was sure that Orochimaru underestimated him. Orochimaru, on some level, saw him through this level of innocence Kabuto tried and succeeded to project, with all false smiles and unassuming movements- Orochimaru surely didn't think yet that Kabuto would succeed where he had failed, becoming the first Snake Sage in a thousand years.

He wished for a moment he could keep Kabuto like this, because the lying creature before him now was far preferable to the serpentine murderer he became- wished for that like he still wished he could preserve everyone like they were now.

That was impossible, Naruto knew. But if he could prevent the Fourth War from happening, then perhaps he could at least protect them all from the devastation that still haunted his dreams at night.

He watched as Kabuto retreated back underground, crossing his legs on his branch and resting his head on his hand. He thought absentmindedly that after taking care of Kakashi, he was going to have to take care of Orochimaru- once he found out that one of his top subordinates could become a Snake Sage, he would waste no time taking Kabuto off to Ryuuchi Cave. And he seriously doubted Orochimaru wasn't going to try and harvest the Sharingan or Mokuton, at least, for a future body of his.

But whatever he did, he wouldn't plunge the world into the chaos Kakashi had. And he could involve Konoha once Kakashi was dead and gone; it wasn't as if it would be painful for Obito or his father to go after _this_ S-rank criminal.

That could wait, though. He'd been fighting nonstop for three years; the last few weeks of his venture into the past had been _amazing_ and he wasn't looking forward to having to fight again. To be able to wake up in the morning, eat a leisurely breakfast, and just laze about all day in the trees and sun- he loved it. Naruto wasn't normally one for staying still and relaxing, but after three full years of constant movement, a little rest was welcome. Just the thought of going home to sleep, eat hot ramen, and wander about with his friends- he couldn't stop smiling _now_, and he was only thinking about it.

Of course, the relaxation wasn't all fun and games. He could easily train when he got bored, which was happening more and more frequently now after long hours spent staring up at the clouds- that lifestyle may suit Shikamaru, but not him- but the nights were difficult. Now that sleep was more than a luxury, he dreamed again, no longer waking as soon as he had enough energy to not pass out from exhaustion. And now that he dreamed, he remembered them all.

He remembered Sasuke dying in pain and sobbing in regret, the only comfort being that at least he wasn't dying alone. He remembered Sakura silently approaching the rest of Team Seven and telling them that she hadn't been able to save Sai before her eyes filled with tears. He remembered Obito falling to his knees once the newly revealed Kakashi had retreated, getting sick all over the ground in a horrified disbelief, truly unable to understand what his friend had become. His father, delirious and gasping from Kakashi's mutant poison as a nameless medic tried desperately to purge it from his system. The look on his mother and Rin's faces as they were carted off to train with the Hachibi, then made to fight in the Jinchuuriki Unit- because they needed more soldiers, not medics.

Those screams, sobs, and dying words followed him into his nightmares to the point that he hated when the sun set and it was time for him to sleep. He was almost afraid to sleep, now, afraid of what he would see and remember that night.

But Naruto could also cling to the hope that those would all stay locked up in his nightmares- never to pass in reality again.

* * *

_Yes, there is a reason for the Orochimaru's new experiment on Kakashi- namely, so we can see more of why Kakashi ended up working for Madara. Also, I'm going to Oklahoma today and will be gone until Saturday, so no more updates until then. Feedback please? :)_


	8. Arc Two 4

Thank you for reviewing, and I am so, sooooo sorry for the long absence. Short answer: real life was a bitch and intervened. A lot. It's still not done causing problems (I'm on my third serious disease in a year now; it's a whooping cough this time. Like, fuck. Talk about random). But, I'm trying to come back now. I WILL finish this; I've never discontinued a story, and I'm not about to start now. I know better than to promise a hiatus won't happen again, but I WILL promise that this WILL be finished.

* * *

It was the third week after Naruto's encounter with Kabuto that thing's started to go wrong.

He'd developed a morning ritual of entering Sage Mode and holding it for as long as he could, just relaxing and meditating and holing his peace. It helped him focus after the previous night's horrific visions from the war, calm down and focus on his goal. And on one early morning three weeks after Kabuto had spoken with him, he felt Chakra signatures that had once meant relief and calm- but now meant bad, bad, _bad_.

Obito, Rin, Inoichi, Ibiki, and the head of the Aburame.

Obito and Rin were the ones that mean bad, bad, _bad_.

What were they doing here?!

Naruto tried to hold his focus, continuing to sit and passively absorb natural energy while he puzzled frantically over what was happening. He had not been in the past for very long- three months, perhaps? And, as he'd learned from Izumo, they'd arrived eight years in the past on the day of his Academy graduation.

Naruto's memories of those days were faded but precious- clear enough for him to know, without a doubt, that Obito had never left his new team in the beginning. Whether it was missions or training, day-off relaxation at Ichiraku or Obito bringing them in to help him pull off a prank, they were doing something together every single day until the chuunin exams. Obito hadn't gone off on any high ranked missions and left them alone until after the exams.

So what was he doing here?

It had to be something he'd done- he'd changed the timeline in some fashion that had brought Obito, Rin, and the others out here.

And while Naruto had no idea how those two had managed to find out anything or track him down, it wasn't hard to guess just what they were doing here.

They were about ten miles away and not moving quickly, so he had time. Not much, but some. He had to get that team out of here, and now. They weren't strong enough to fight Orochimaru, not in their current state, and even worse than that, the fact that they were here meant they knew Kakashi was here.

_How? How on earth did they find out? I ordered Hayate to keep silent and even if I hadn't, it's not like I told him anything! I didn't tell him anything about Kakashi or time travel or Orochimaru! _

Naruto swore inwardly, since actually opening his mouth would start the clock ticking for him to lose Sage Mode- and he had a feeling he was going to need it for as long as possible. He couldn't think about that right now; it was obviously something he had done and he could figure it out later, but _not now_. _Now,_ he had to figure out how to get this team out of here.

Could he take them on without hurting them too badly or killing them? This was Obito without Mangekyou and Rin without much control over her bijuu. Inoichi, Ibki, and Shibi were all dangerous in their own right, but Naruto was good enough to take any one of them on alone and subdue them without killing them- but as a team?

It didn't help that most of his best moves were fatal. Rasen-shuriken was an absolute _no_, as were most of his other wind release moves. Sage Mode would help him overcome Obito's Sharingan, but Rin's abilities as a Jinchuuriki were going to be troublesome. As he'd discovered during the war, all bijuu had their own way of protecting their hosts- like Gaara's sand defense and his mother's unnatural healing. Sanbi's way of keeping Rin safe was to coat her skin with a thin as paper layer of lethal poison, one that permeated through the enemy's skin by contact if the Sanbi sensed ill intent. Naruto had built up a resistance to it over the years, but Rin couldn't know that now.

He couldn't touch Rin, he couldn't use his best moves, and he had five minutes until Sage Mode ran out.

Not good odds, that.

_Just stall. That's right. Just stall. _That was all he had to do- Orochimaru wasn't stupid; he would see Naruto fighting out there and he would get Kakashi and leave. If he just stalled until that happened, then- well, he could figure out the _then_ later. For now, he just had to stall until Orochimaru and Kakashi were gone.

Naruto stayed still, absorbing the natural energy until he ran out of time. Once he left Sage Mode, staying ahead of that team's movements enough to hold them off but not kill them would be impossible.

_Orochimaru had better work fast. _

He felt the team approach. By the feel of their Chakra, they weren't aware they were getting close- the patterns stayed bored and relaxed even as they drew so close they were less than a mile away. Orochimaru had to be on the move by now; even now, without Mangekyou Sharingan, Obito was known as the Hero of the White Flame, and the Sannin had to know that Rin was a Jinchuuriki. Orochimaru wasn't exactly confrontational; given Obito and Rin's presence, along with the others on the team, it was likely he would chose to retreat and continue investigating Kakashi in peace elsewhere.

Naruto still wasn't going to take a chance and follow him yet, though. He had to find out how Obito was following him and what he knew about the situation.

Naruto frowned inwardly at the team's reaction, then.

They went from feeling like a bored team traveling through the woods for a mission to a strike team in sight of their target. Obito and Rin both felt horribly energized and _enraged_, ready- no, _eager_- to kill, and the rest of the team was now focused, instincts sharp and bodies tense.

Somehow, they knew they were getting close.

Naruto waited, letting the natural energy build up inside of him, instincts tingling and body thrumming with the anticipatory feel of battle, the way he'd lived more often than not for the past three years. It was almost sad; of _course_, this nice, peaceful respite had to end- and of _course_, it would end with him facing off against the two people he least wanted to fight.

He felt the five ninja drop in a solid pentagon formation around him, heard the light footsteps as they all hit the ground. Naruto waited to see if they would attack first, but when they didn't, he opened his eyes to face his opponents.

Obito stood directly across from him.

His sensei wore his customary dark blue outfit rather than the standard jounin blacks that all Konoha nin adopted during war. He was much younger than he should've been; Naruto remembered a man in his early thirties, not mid-twenties. His eyes, too, were wrong; instead of being warm black or a fierce crimson broken by an onyx pinwheel, they were the plain Sharingan, three spinning tomoe backed by red. But they were narrowed in a fierce anger and hatred Naruto wasn't used to being directed at him, betraying a killing intent all too clear, a killing intent Naruto hadn't beheld from the man since before Kakashi had revealed himself.

By his side was Rin. She, too, was back in her customary white and brown rather than the standard jounin uniform, with the pale outline of a star on her shoulder that identified as a medic first, and a shinobi second- the medic that she wanted to be, and not the Jinchuuriki warrior she would be forced to become. Like Obito, she looked younger than he was prepared for, but was still short as she was eight years later. She looked just as furious and ready to kill as her husband- but what really worried him was her eyes.

Their usual full brown was rimmed a vibrant olive green.

Rin was already angry enough that Sanbi was trying to take over.

This was really not good.

But the shock of seeing those two again- _alive and well- _it _overwhelmed _him. His sensei was _alive!_ Not dead, even though he was certainly dying the last time he'd seen him, but _alive_. Standing tall and proud and whole, no longer coughing up blood and crawling on his hands and knees through the dust but upright and strong and breathing.

Naruto was struck by the most powerful urge to just run forward and hug him. Hug him so tightly he could never escape again, then yell at him a little for sending him into the past, wasting what Chakra he had left and sealing his own fate as certain death, then promise him that he was going to save Sasuke, just like he'd asked, so he didn't have to worry anymore and everything was going to be okay.

Except Obito wouldn't have the slightest idea what he was talking about.

_And YOU can't tell him, because if he finds out the truth about Kakashi, then ALL THAT PAIN you'll want to save him from? It'll be too late. _

Still, Naruto couldn't help grinning like an idiot as he nodded at Obito and Rin in greeting. Which probably was a bad idea, considering how much they wanted to kill him, but he couldn't help it.

"This is him," Inoichi's voice confirmed from behind. "This is the one from the memory."

If possible, Obito and Rin looked even more furious. The medic at least maintained a somewhat straight head as she began to talk- Obito seemed beyond speaking. "Everyone, be careful!" she called out as a warning. "He's in Sage Mode. Like what Jiraiya-sama uses."

_I really, really should stop smiling… _but he couldn't. He was just too happy to see them like this again, see them alive and well and happy. Well, not happy, but at least something other than distraught and devastated.

"I'm only going to ask this once."

That was Obito's _very angry _voice. Not his _good prank, but I wish you hadn't pulled it off on me _voice, not his _I'm acting so mean to teach you a lesson _voice, but his _you're on such thin ice making even one wrong move means you're dead _voice. The one even his team heard so rarely- the one that meant Obito had been driven past every limit he had.

Naruto had first heard that voice on a mission, when Sakura was taken hostage by a band of Kumo nin they had been hunting. Obito had ordered Naruto and Sasuke to stay back and gone after her alone- but Naruto hadn't been about to stay back while Obito put himself in danger, and Sasuke certainly wasn't going to be the only one left behind, so the two followed their sensei along.

Obito had fought the enemy with the same voice he was using now. And the sensei's two young genin teammates, unused to such a dangerous, risky situation and seeing their teacher like this, were _scared_ by the transformation he had undergone. Obito had shifted from kind, outgoing, and bold to a dark, furious warrior.

And that voice had scared them most of all.

_That voice_ was the one that was born every time one of Obito's friends were threatened.

It never failed to send chills down his spine, and now was no exception.

"What have you done with Kakashi?"

Naruto heard the love and devotion to the Akatsuki leader in Obito's voice, and he swore then and there that would never be replaced with the love, devotion, and _agony_ that he remembered.

"I suppose," he began, clearing his throat, "that if I told you that it would truly be in your best interest to leave Kakashi behind… you would ignore me?"

Obito's eyes spun even faster, going wide in a hot fury, and Naruto grimaced. "I guess that's a no."

"Take him alive, Obito," Ibiki called from behind, a sharp reminder to not let his rage rule him. "Don't kill him."

But the Uchiha did not seem to be listening. He was raising one gloved hand before him, fingers curled like they held a compressed ball of air- one very familiar posture that Naruto had seen too many times before.

_He's getting more serious, faster than I expected. Really not good._

"Obito-se-"

"_Shiro-hi!"_

And there it was. One of the most feared techniques in the shinobi world, the one Kakashi had claimed Obito had _stolen_ from him- the reason for his name of Hero of the White Flame.

The fire version of Chidori.

Fire so hot it was white burst to life, spinning and burning around his hand, glowing and crackling in the morning light. The Uchiha leaped to life, sprinting across the forest floor in a burst of energy- the brilliant inferno aimed straight for Naruto.

All the speed that came with being an Uchiha was matched by Naruto's Sage Mode, and he dodged with ease. Rin was already approaching from his other side, and his abruptly heightened vision saw the gossamer layer of poison, thin and frail as a spider's silk but deadly as a black widow's venom. Her eyes were almost completely overtaken by green now and Naruto knew it wouldn't be long before her Chakra was green as well- not a medic's soft, healing green, but a virulent, poisonous one.

But he could stretch out his senses and feel for Orochimaru- dangerous to do, when the fight was already this close, but necessary. The Sannin was definitely not close by and moving farther away as they fought, which was very good, but…

_Shit! Kakashi isn't with him! _

_What the hell is he thinking?! _

Now it wasn't a matter of stalling. He couldn't let this team raid Orochimaru's base and find Kakashi. For some reason, Orochimaru had decided to _completely_ screw him over, and now the situation was bad ten different ways and good in none. He had to beat this team of five so badly that they couldn't follow or even stop him from leaving with Kakashi- but killing them was absolutely not an option.

Meanwhile, Obito was still blasting about with his Shiro-hi and Rin was doing everything she could to touch his bare skin with her poison to infect him- and Inoichi, Ibiki, and Shibi weren't exactly slouches, either.

When Naruto came this close to having his brain being incinerated, he decided that he was cutting it close enough as it was and he had better stop holding back. "_Fuuton: Rasen-shuriken!_"

Neither one of his father's students seemed to recognize it was the perfected Rasengan, which was good, because then he would _really_ have some explaining to do. The fire was still crackling in Obito's fist and Naruto swung and duck around him, bringing his compacted spiral of wind closer and closer to the flames with each move. But holding the move together _and_ sensing their Chakra took too much concentration, and it didn't help that Obito was fighting to _kill_ him and he never would've thought he'd face his sensei's most dangerous move like this.

But he had sparred against Obito for years, and he knew how the man fought. And sooner rather than later, he was slamming one Rasen-Shuriken into Obito's Shiro-hi into the combo attack that had created one devastating explosion more than once during the war.

Killing them may have been out of the question, but burning down the forest wasn't.

Shiro-hi didn't look like a lot of fire, but it actually was- just like Chidori and Rasen-Shuriken, it was a ton of energy compacted into a tiny space. And the combo attack Naruto and Obito had worked up during the war was like the kekkei genkai Explosive Style, except with two people instead of one- Naruto's wind would blast out, carrying Obito's flames with them, with the immense power of their attacks bringing the fire out to unprecedented distances.

Obito wasn't exactly trying to cooperate with him here, so the resulting explosion was no record. But it was still enough.

Trees were sliced straight through, branches and trunks disintegrated in an instant. The white hot flames overtook the forest so fast it was unbelievable, acrid trails of smoke curling up through the air as the fire crawled around and smoldered great, massive trees to ashes in mere moments. The shockwave of the explosion affected the fighting ninja, too- Naruto had been ready and very firmly anchored with his Chakra; the rest had not.

He caught a glimpse of Inoichi flailing up high in the branches of a tree that was ready to collapse, and there was Ibiki, over thirty feet away caught between the rough thorns of a bush, and he could only assume the others had followed suit as well. Without giving them a second thought, Naruto put the rest of his Sage Mode forth to speed, sprinting over to where most of Orochimaru's hideout had been uncovered by razor sharp cuts of wind. There was nothing unnatural or malicious about this sudden blaze; this was just five ninja caught in a forest fire. They would escape easily enough- now he had to get to Kakashi in the chaos and get him out of here.

And then, just as suddenly as the fire had started, it stopped.

Naruto stared in utter disbelief as the great deluge poured around the woods, rushing streams and waterfalls emerging out of thin air to whip about and strangle the fire. Pounding rainfall beat down the burst of flames into the ashes already coating the forest floor so quickly it might as well have never existed at all, leaving only smoke and slashed wood from the wind behind.

A low, deep snarl from behind him drew his attention.

He recognized that sound.

_Can this situation really get any worse at all now? _

Naurto turned to see what was once a diminutive, kind-hearted medic behind him. But that was no longer Rin. The woman was kneeling on all fours, eyes entirely taken over by a solid green, Chakra of the same color glowing in a luminous aura over her skin. Her usually serious features were overtaken by a feral, predatory snarl, teeth sharpened to the point of fangs- and one waving tail of transparent green visible from behind her.

Fighting Rin in her usual state was a challenge, but one that he would always win, in his current state.

Fighting Rin as she took on Sanbi's Chakra cloak, on the other hand…

_Not to mention that I have to be careful. If I get her angrier, she could progress to two tails, and if she hits three… _

No. This was about who Rin perceived to be a long lost friend and teammate; she wasn't going to get _calmer_ if he insisted on fighting her. And he wouldn't be able to subdue her without _serious_ damage to himself; he'd wind up being captured by Konoha if he tried to subdue her. Fighting to kill her was out of the question, fighting to subdue her wasn't an option…

And if he let her stay in that state, it could kill her.

_Kakashi, you're second priority now, you bastard. I'm going to save Rin first._

Naruto didn't have any Chakra suppressant seals with him, which were the ideal, but he was half Uzumaki. His mother had trained him in seals since before he had even graduated, and he'd been forced to use them on Rin before. Of course, this would make things even more troublesome; as well showing them a perfected Rasengan, they would also find out he could use Uzumaki-distinctive sealing techniques. If he didn't wrap this up quickly, Konoha was going to start getting very suspicious, very quickly about just who exactly he was.

Naruto approached the snarling beast before him, dodging easily as she shot a spray of pressurized water at him right out of her mouth. His thoughts raced, and when he came upon the particular seal he would need, he swore. Unlike normal, Rin would probably be fighting him with everything she had when he tried to seal the Sanbi's Chakra. It would take a hell of a lot more effort for him to calm her down. He was already exhausted from Sage Mode, and Rasen-Shuriken took one half of his Chakra.

This seal wouldn't kill him, but it was going to do a pretty good job of exhausting his Chakra.

Leaving him completely at the team's mercy.

But he didn't have a choice! None of the rest of the team was in any condition to subdue her, and this was before Rin began to get any sort of real control over the Sanbi; she wouldn't be able to calm herself down. If he just grabbed Kakashi now and ran, Rin could _kill_ herself- _and_ her teammates. That was an absolutely unacceptable outcome. He could just let himself get captured and think up a way out of it later; right now, his only responsibility was calming Rin down.

"_Fuuin: Chakra dipuri-shon no jutsu." _

The drain on his Chakra was immediate. Even as the technique took affect Naruto felt his legs give out, and he struggled from his knees to force down the fighting Charka and lock it away. Both Rin and Sanbi refused furiously, thrashing under the seal's power and trying desperately to break it, but Naruto was stronger than they were.

It took a full three minutes for him to bring the tail down into nothing, and another five after that to diminish the layer of green Chakra, thick and vicious over her skin. Rin was still panting on the ground, fangs displayed and eyes a wicked, poisonous green, but the Chakra over her body was gone and that was one damn good start.

But Naruto could feel his own strength failing as well. This seal worked by matching the enemy's levels of Chakra, and then the two different Chakras clashed and wore both of themselves out into nothing. As an Uzumaki, Naruto had _tons_ of Chakra, so normally this wasn't a problem- but not even his levels could match a Jinchuuriki's. If Rin had progressed to even two tails, then he wouldn't have had enough.

"_Rin!_" he screamed before he'd had even the foresight to shut his mouth. "_Oneechan!_ Come on, focus! It's me, Naruto! _Rin!_ _Calm down!_"

With a shuddering gasp, the medic dropped onto her chest, still and exhausted on the soggy forest floor. Her eyes flashed brown before back to green, then finally faded weakly into brown again.

Well, he'd saved Obito and Rin from his own screw up in the timeline, at least.

Somehow, he had already made things worse.

_Obito, you really shouldn't have trusted me with this._

* * *

Jutsu

Fuuin: Chakra Dipuri-shon no jutsu- Sealing Technique: Chakra Depletion


	9. Arc Two 5

Thank you for reviewing! Kakashi comes back in the next chapter. As in, it's solely about Kakashi. Until then, more Team Minato. Enjoy!

* * *

For the second time since arriving back in the past, Naruto found himself tied to a tree. But at least it was in the company of friends, and not his mortal enemy.

Of course, Obito and Rin would like nothing more than to kill him at this point, but he still couldn't help but smile to see them again and ignore that little detail.

Once Rin had recovered from the woes of being a Jinchuuriki, she'd tracked down the other members of her team and restrained him. He had enough strength to move, just not to run, and it seemed she either hadn't heard or didn't remember him slipping up and introducing himself or using an Uzumaki seal. Which was pretty good, he supposed. It would be better if he wasn't too exhausted to run.

He'd watched, relieved, as Rin had started healing her team's injuries from the blast. She wasn't half the medic she ended up becoming now, but that didn't mean she still wasn't one of the best medics in all of the Five Hidden Nations. Such relatively minor injuries were nothing to her.

Shibi and Inoichi were tracking Orochimaru, as both were only a little shaken up and scratched by the explosion. Rin seemed worried that the Sannin had taken Kakashi along with him, and Naruto wasn't about to contradict her.

But he knew that Orochimaru's base was going to be raided, one way or another, and they would find Kakashi that way.

Not for the first time, Naruto wondered just why Obito had sent him back with _Kakashi_, of all people. He'd rather have gone alone than with him. Just what was the point of sending him back with _their enemy?_ How was he supposed to stop anything from happening with _him_ trekking around causing trouble?

The only explanation had to be that Obito hadn't meant to send both of them back. He'd already been dying and, from what Naruto had seen, the kamui vortex wasn't picky. It sucked up anything it came into contact with, no matter who Obito was targeting. Kakashi _had_ to have just been brought in by accident, because otherwise it made no sense at all.

* * *

Obito slowly ran his fingers over the bandages wrapped around his head. Rin, in turn, slapped at his hand, but it was a halfhearted, tired motion that didn't dissuade the Uchiha at all.

"You don't think there was a chance it could have been you? …At all?"

Rin shook her head slightly, Obito's hand moving from his bandages to his dark, disheveled hair, and the medic looked down at the floor and bit her lip. "No. I wish I could say there was, but it definitely wasn't me. I didn't do anything different; I felt Sanbi taking over, like those last few times, and then I came to later to find out he had somehow put out all the fires and the blond was passed out. …I would say that he fought Sanbi, but he wasn't even poisoned or hurt at all. Not even Sensei's strong enough to put down Sanbi without getting hurt."

Obito looked at her out of the corner of his eye, clearly concerned. "Is there anyway he could have suppressed your Chakra? Any way at all?"

"The only explanation I can think of is some kind of seal. But most people don't go walking around learning strong enough seals to be used on a Jinchuuriki."

"Well, this _is_ Orochimaru we're talking about here," Obito pointed out. "Is this guy really does work for him, then he probably picked it up from him.

Rin nodded, but didn't exactly appear very convinced. "…I suppose. To be honest, though… I'm a bit more worried about his wind technique that he created the explosion with."

Obito's expression darkened at that. "Ridiculous _Rasen-Shuriken. _The bastard just used my Shiro-hi and mixed in a little wind, that's all-"

"A _little?!_" the medic cried, incredulous. "Obito, I found you over seventy feet away! It took more than a _little_ wind to carry you out that far! Besides, was I the only one paying attention when he used that move? It was a bunch of elemental Chakra in constant motion, but somehow holding its form! You _know_ what that is!"

Obito opened his mouth to retort- and then his words were overtaken by a silent gasp. What Rin was saying clicked and he understood- and that wasn't necessarily a good thing. "You're not saying that… Rin- he couldn't have! No one knows that jutsu but us, and not even Sensei or Jiraiya-sama was strong enough to perfect it! No way one of Orochimaru's guys could've perfected it! That's _impossible!_"

"Then what else was that jutsu? I don't want to admit it anymore than you do, Obito, but that was _some form_ of Rasengan, at least!"

"But then how-" Obito stopped, then shook his head vigorously and stood. Rin stood with him when he swayed, unsteady, putting a hand to his suddenly aching head.

"Careful," she murmured. "Not even I can heal concussions just like that."

Obito took a few seconds to steady himself, then moved out of Rin's reach and started on his way towards where they were holding the enemy. "I think we need to talk to someone about this to find out what's going on."

Obito and Rin moved silently about to crouch in front of their captive blond. He wasn't glaring at them, like prisoners and captives were prone to do, or struggling against his restraints or trying otherwise to escape. In fact, the moment they entered his eyesight, his expression brightened for the briefest of moments in a true, genuine smile before his features were carefully wiped blank.

"What exactly are you so happy about?" Obito snapped, crossing his arms and moving to stand in front of his captive.

Again, his lips twitched into a smile before the enemy managed to reclaim his blank facade. When he didn't answer, Obito sat cross-legged in front of him, Rin moving down by his side, both watching him carefully.

Minato telling them that he and the enemy looked alike was an understatement, Obito thought, getting a good look at the other man for the first time. His hair wasn't as spiky or long as their sensei's, but almost just, and it was exactly the same ridiculously yellow shade. His eyes were the same powerfully defiant blue as Minato's, even if they were slightly larger, that same rare blue that they had never seen in anyone else but Minato.

He also had three faint whisker marks on each cheek, ones that Minato didn't have- but that Obito was _very _familiar with from his twelve year-old son. But this man was nothing at all like the brilliantly smiling, eccentric, ramen-loving, much too loud boy. Sure, maybe they both liked orange, if what this man was wearing was any indication, and what ninja in his right mind wore orange?

But this man was also at least twenty. Naruto was twelve. Naruto liked the stories about Kakashi so much he'd begged his father for a scarecrow plushie by the time he was five; _this man_, on the other hand…

Obito's fists clenched. Well, they were just about to find out who he was. And if he didn't answer- that was why Ibiki was there.

(Inoichi also would've sufficed. But mind-readings were generally painless, and Obito wasn't a fan of the word painless anywhere near this enemy right now.)

"We're going to go through this once the easy way. If you don't answer, we have Ibiki with us. You know who Ibiki is?" he asked quietly- perhaps intending to at least intimidate a little. But the blond just smiled like an idiot and Obito glared. "What's wrong with you, exactly? Are you a masochist or something? People in our village don't even generally like to hear his name."

The blond didn't answer, and Obito just sighed and decided to continue on, masochist or not. "Well, Ibiki is going to be having a nice, long chat with you if you don't answer. Though you don't seem particularly adverse to that. So let's just start, hmm?"

Still, no reply, so he continued on without bothering to wait. "What is your name?"

The blond continued to stare at him, the oddest look in his eyes- almost like a fond recognition. Then he took a breath, smiled again- not a sarcastic, cruel smirk, but a real _smile_- and answered. "Uzumaki Naruto."

Obito stared.

When the blond just kept staring and smiling, the Uchiha somehow found his voice and scoffed. "Uzumaki Naruto is my student. He is twelve years old, and a genin. Try again."

Naruto-impersonator only reacted by smiling even brighter. "Uzumaki Naruto," he repeated, and Obtio swung his fist around to hit him across the face.

"You're not Naruto! Stop lying before you make me lose my patience!"

Naruto-impersonator did stop smiling now, but he didn't look like he even felt the blow. He shifted slightly before raising his eyes to meet Obito's again, warm blue now dark and serious. "Obito-sensei-"

"Don't _call me_ that!"

"-I was serious, before," he continued, acting as if Obito hadn't even said anything. "When I told you it was in your best interest to leave Kakashi behind."

Obito hit him again. He punched him so hard the blond's head whipped to the side before grabbing him by the hair and forcing his head back, shifting forward to shove his face into the enemy's. "I don't care how dangerous it is. I don't care if you've got Sage Mode and all of that, I don't care if it really is Orochimaru behind this- we're not going to leave him behind! _Not again!_ We don't care if we get _killed_ for him- we _will_ get him back! If you think you can scare us off by warning us that it's _dangerous_ or- _get that fucking smirk off your face!_"

Obito hit him a third time, trying to forcibly wipe the pleasure off the enemy's features. It wasn't really a smirk, it looked like a stunned smile, but this was the kind of situation an enemy smirked in. Not smiled. The enemy was looking far too happy right now- not the slightly insane, sadistic pleasure they sometimes encountered, no, just _innocently happy_. And hitting him hadn't done anything to make him stop smiling.

"Sorry, sorry," Naruto-impersonator managed after a few moments, looking back up at him and not really sounding apologetic at all. "It's just that I like seeing you protective over your friends like this. …It's… reassuring."

Obito blinked.

"And you're crazy," he muttered as a retort when the blond just continued to smile. Accusing him of being insane didn't have any affect on his good spirits.

"_Anyway,_" the Naruto-impersonator continued quickly, looking like he was trying to stop grinning now but not having much success. "Back to what I was actually talking about, dattebayo. I don't mean it would be in your best interest because it would be dangerous- I know that would never dissuade you from going after a teammate." Instead of looking disgruntled or annoyed, though, the blond looked almost proud, before he continued on again. "Look, I really am Naruto. I know that the one you know is younger than me-…please believe me, Obito-sensei, when I say that we're _both_ the same person. …I'm from the future."

Obito stared blankly.

Then he waited for the eccentric blond to grin again and announce that he was joking.

It didn't happen.

To his left, it was Rin who answered. "From the future. Really," she deadpanned, but the blond just nodded earnestly, either not picking up on the dripping sarcasm or just not caring.

"Yes! And I can prove it, too, if you're just willing to actually listen to me and hear me out."

Obito groaned loudly. Great; he'd been almost looking forward to this interrogation- and now, it seemed, the guy was crazy. Fun. "Rin, we don't have time for this. Let's go raid the base to see if-"

"Wait, wait! I really am Naruto! I can prove it! You're Uchiha Obito and that's Nohara Rin, and she's the Jinchuuriki of the Sanbi and you two are married, and Rin got Sanbi when the Mist tried to unleash a bijuu and destroy the village but my mom strengthened the seal so their plan didn't work, and you two don't want to have kids because you're worried you wouldn't be good parents because Rin, you didn't have parents and Sensei, your parents weren't any good so you think you don't know what to do! Even though my dad's tried to convince you otherwise and, Sensei, I'm your student with Sakura-chan and Sasuke, and Rin, you've been teaching Sakura-chan medical ninjutsu since she was eight and now she's really good at it and- and- and Sensei, Itachi is your best friend, and- just _please believe me_ I'm Naruto and I'm not your enemy, believe me, I just don't want you to go after Kakashi because I don't want to see you hurt again! _Please Sensei!_"

Obito honestly had no idea what to think.

The overwhelming tirade of information how rendered both him and Rin silent, watching in disbelief as their enemy stared at them earnestly and nodded, nodded eagerly over and over again like it was the most important thing in the world that he be believed.

Some part of Obito realized that most of what 'Naruto' had just yelled at them was common knowledge. But the way he'd said it all- not at all like he'd just memorized a list of facts and was now spitting them back up. Like he lived with it everyday, like it was his own life's story- and it wasn't as if that proved anything; it was called deception and good acting.

But something about the way he seemed to be honestly _pleading_ with them…

When Obito just sat there, silent and stunned, the other ninja continued, voice softer but no less urgent. "Your Shiro-hi. You got it from Kakashi. On your last mission together, he used his new technique, Chidori- and later, you asked Tou-san, your sensei, if he could teach you Rasengan so you could create your own version of it, too. Shiro-hi and Chidori are the same move, just one has lightening, one his fire. Rin, you tried to do the same, but you didn't have enough Chakra, not until you got Sanbi, and then you made a water version of it."

Obito narrowed his eyes. It wasn't exactly a secret where he got his Shiro-hi from; if anyone asked, he told them. Nor was it difficult to figure out that his, Kakahsi, and Rin's signature moves were all based off the Fourth Hokage's Rasengan. But it _wasn't _well known that Rin could only accomplish hers through the Sanbi's power. Sure, it was easy for an enemy to guess that was true, but there was no way he could know it with certainty.

Naruto continued on, looking between the two of them with wide, hopeful eyes. "That move I used earlier, in our fight- it's a perfected Rasengan. Wind version. Obito-sensei, the reason I was able to use that combo move with your fire technique so easily was because we've _done it before_- I mean, you haven't, but in the war, we fought together and that was our best move. Please, believe me. I'll tell you anything you want to prove it- but this is the truth. I honestly didn't mean for things to turn out like this, I thought that I could just control the situation without you ever finding out, but it didn't work and I-"

"Before you ramble on, if what you're saying is true- then _why_ on _earth_ were you attacking Kakashi?!"

Obito blinked at Rin's interruption. The sudden venom almost took him off guard before he remembered just what this 'Naruto' had done and he grinned, nodding in agreement. He'd been so busy thinking about why the blond couldn't be Naruto that he'd forgotten the most damming reason of all- that he'd attacked and nearly killed Kakashi.

Instead of looking angry or affronted, however, the blond lowered his head, averting his gaze. Obito crossed his arms and watched him darkly, speaking up when he failed to. "Rin's right. My _student_ Naruto would never have done that. Kakashi's a Konoha ninja and our friend; Naruto never would have-"

"Obito-sensei, please. …You thought he was dead. Your last memories of him are when you were both thirteen. I've seen what he becomes. I know that you don't want to believe me, and that you have every reason not to, but please just listen to me. Kakashi isn't your friend anymore. He ends up fighting you, Sensei. Something happened to him when you thought he died and he- he changed. …He's not the Kakashi you remember and the whole reason I came to Orochimaru in the first place was to prevent you from finding that out, but I can't now. …Please. You sent me back, Obito-sensei, _you_ were the one who sent me back- you trusted me to stop it from happening all over again."

Obito didn't even entertain the possibility of this being true anymore.

He didn't care how well the blond's story seemed to check out. He didn't care that he literally could not think of another explanation. Nothing this Naruto-impersonator said now would make him change his mind- because believing him meant betraying Kakashi.

"No." He flexed his hands and looked the blond right in the eye, no longer even the tiniest bit uncertain. "I don't know if you're just demented or if this is also some sadistic Orochimaru plot. You are lying. Kakashi was- _is_ our friend. I don't know how he survived that day, but whatever it was that happened to him, it wouldn't have made him turn against us."

"If you _really were_ from the future," Rin added on harshly, her voice just as icy cold as his, "you would've escaped this. Obito has already taught his students to _never _leave behind teammates. Even already, the real Naruto knows that Obito here would never go against Kakashi- even if the entire world turned against him, Obito wouldn't. Same with me, and same with Minato-sensei. You're on a fool's errand."

Obito nodded and stood. Rin followed suit, and, straightening his hitai-ate, the Uchiha turned his back on the enemy to face Orochimaru's underground hideout. He took a few silent steps forward with Rin by his side- not stopping even when Naruto-impersonator called out to him.

"Sensei, please! I'm trying to protect you both. You don't want to see what Kakashi's become. I know that you would never turn your back on a teammate… I guess that's why you didn't kill him, back when you sent me and Kakashi back in time. But I also know that you won't let Kakashi destroy Konoha and everything you care about, just because of something you once shared. He starts a war, Obito-sensei, he wages war against Konoha and all the rest of the hidden villages. You fought against him yourself. …You have to believe me!"

Obito only had to think back to his memories of Kakashi for one split second to have a reply. He didn't turn to face the enemy, keeping his gaze fixated firmly ahead as he spoke the words softly into the early morning. "There were many things I didn't like about Kakashi," he began, vision clouding with memories of one arrogant pint-sized ninja that constantly put him down and often refused to even give him the time of day. "But I do know one thing for certain. Kakashi would _never_ betray Konoha. The most important thing in his life were the rules of being a shinobi, and one of those rules is that you don't betray your village. It didn't matter what Konoha asked Kakashi to do; he did it. I don't know if you're lying on purpose or if something deluded you into thinking all this insanity was true; whatever happened, I don't care.

"We are going to bring Kakashi home, and there's nothing you can do or say to stop us."


	10. Arc Three Evolution

Thank you for reviewing! Just wanted to make clear, because I think it could be a little confusing, that this entire chapter is from Kakashi's POV. (That drug I mentioned earlier that Orochimaru was using on him is why, he's not just having utterly random flashbacks, like the anime seems to do every time Naruto is on screen). Originally, it was meant to include Obito and Rin finding him as well- but that would've made it too long. Well... enjoy!

* * *

_"Come on, Kakashi. You're going to stay with me." _

_"Why?" he snapped back. This wasn't any of his business. This was his father, his father who was dead, his father who had disgraced and killed himself, his father who he had found dead. Nowhere in that sentence was Minato's name. _

_But his mentor just smiled kindly down at him. "I don't want you here tonight," he said bluntly, and Kakashi stiffened even as he continued. "You're going to come home with me. …At least until the funeral, okay?"_

_"No." Kakashi turned his back and crossed his arms angrily. "I'm not some little kid that needs to be taken care of. I'm a chuunin, Sensei. Find some other pity project."_

_There was a short silence, a silence in which he wished Minato would turn around and just go away. It wasn't as if he and his father were particularly close, anyway. They hadn't spoken more than two words in months. _

_But Kakashi didn't know if he were trying to justify himself blowing off Minato's concern as misplaced, or truly convince himself that the stupid sense of betrayal and sheer hurt he felt right now was unnecessary. _

But what was this? Kakashi didn't remember this happening. He didn't remember Minato saying anything to him after his father's suicide…

_"…Actually, Kakashi, I was hoping you could home with me to help me cook. You're better at it than me, heh… I'm trying to get Kushina to date me, and she said she'd be really impressed if I could cook a good dinner. I hoped you could show me how."_

_Kakashi frowned. He knew Minato was lying, and he knew Minato knew that, but… He turned back around to appraise the man with narrowed eyes. The tall blond was still smiling down at him, no scent of deceit or deception in his open features. Minato shrugged. "So, I suppose I could be your pity project, if you think about it?" _

He didn't remember this. This had never happened. What was going on?

_Kakashi knew it was stupid to say yes now; he knew that Minato didn't care about cooking and still just wanted him there to keep an eye on him. _

_But the idea of staying here alone…_

_"Okay," he grunted reluctantly. "I'll go with you. …But only to help you cook." Because he was a chuunin, as he'd said; a chuunin didn't need to go and stay with his sensei just because his father killed himself in front of him. Kakashi already had enough people questioning him because of his age; no need to make it worse by going to stay with Minato just because of some stupid, childish ideal about not wanting to be alone._

_Minato gave a beaming smile and nodded back._

This had never happened. What on earth was this? He didn't remember this. All he remembered was his father killing himself and then him going to train the next day because no one cared, no one expected anything different. What was this? He _didn't remember this._

_"It's okay to cry, you know, Kakashi."_

_Kakashi would've been endlessly embarrassed to have Minato- anyone, even- say that to him in public. But there was no reason to be embarrassed, because no one was around to hear it. _

_Sandaime stood up there, talking and officiating the funeral like he would for any shinobi that had died in action. But he was talking to nobody. Minato had insisted that Kakashi come, and all his protest had been worth nothing, and they'd come with Jiraiya- but it was just the three of them here. _

_No one else had shown up. _

_Not that Kakashi had expected any different. Or that he cared, really. He didn't care about Sakumo. He hadn't even wanted to come to the funeral. Minato had just made him. _

_"Kakashi?"_

_Kakashi shook his shoulder out away from Minato's hand. "What are you, an idiot?" he snapped, voice low but filled with shaking venom. "Rule number twenty five." _

_There was a short silence after that, and Kakashi crossed his arms and stared up at Sandaime. Just when he thought he was going to be allowed to sulk in silence for the rest of the day, Jiraiya spoke up instead of MInato. "Don't you think that your father is worth more than those rules?" _

_Kakashi snorted. "No one is more important than the rules. Tou-san was a fool and thought otherwise; that's why he's dead." _

_Neither Jiraiya or Minato said anything after that. _

_But when a small group of shinobi drifted by to whisper and gossip and stare, both placed hands on his shoulders, squeezing tight and protective, and glared. Kakashi forced himself to stare straight ahead, but no matter how hard he tried to ignore them, he still felt his arm raising to shift his mask the slightest bit higher over his face. _

_"Can we go?" he asked softly, because even once the other ninja had been scared off by Minato and Jiraiya, the way they had looked at him hadn't faded. His throat felt tight in a way it shouldn't, and it was getting harder and harder to not think about the fact that this was his father's funeral and the three of them were there alone. _

_Minato and Jiraiya both led him away, their hands never leaving his shoulders. And when his stupid, stupid emotions that he wasn't supposed to have won out and a tear squeezed it's way past his defenses, they both saw and said nothing. _

That wasn't what had happened, though. The funeral hadn't been empty; it had been jock full of shinobi and civilians alike, there to jeer and catcall and make fun- Sandaime included. Kakashi hadn't been able to handle it and had started crying, and then they'd laughed even louder, quoting rule twenty five to him and telling him he wasn't fit to be a ninja- Jiraiya and Minato along with them. That empty funeral with quiet, understanding, and protective Jiraiya and Minato hadn't happened. He didn't remember that.

_"Hi! I'm Nohara Rin." _

_Kakashi nodded without turning to fully face her. He continued to practice throwing the kunai and shuriken at the target, glaring dully at it like IT was the reason he was being stuck with a genin team. A GENIN TEAM, of all things. He had been a chuunin for three years. _

_"I'm… one of your new teammates…"_

_Kakashi nodded again and kept silent. He was trying to show off an aura of disinterest; why didn't she get it? _

_"You're Hatake Kakashi, right?"_

_Kakashi glared at the target. He didn't like his disgraced clan name. "Yes," he snapped shortly, and the girl wilted at his cold tone._

_"Kakashi, be nice. Rin is your teammate now. Look at her and say hello."_

_Kakashi scowled up at a beaming, expectant Minato. Way to embarrass him. This whole charade was ridiculous enough anyway. He slowly, grudgingly turned to face Rin fully and inclined his head in acknowledgement. "Hello," he muttered stiffly, and the girl smiled tentatively._

What was this? He remembered Rin scoffing and laughing at him like everybody else. Not… not smiling and saying hello and being nervous.

_"I'm here! I'm here! The party can start now; no worries- Uchiha Obito has arrived!"_

_Oh, great. One of the other genin he was being stuck with. Kakashi groaned loudly and turned to face this new hindrance, glowering at the ridiculous expression and thumbs up. "No one was waiting for you," he snapped, then glanced up at Minato. "What kind of a shinobi is late? Sensei, please reconsider placing me on this team."_

_"Oh, no, Kakashi, you're doing thi-"_

_"Oi! Where do you get off talking all high and mighty!"_

_Kakashi sighed heavily. He could already tell that he was going to hate this. "I'm a chuunin," he informed Obito haughtily. "You have been a genin for two days. If I want to talk high and mighty to you, then I can."_

_"Hmph!" Obito jutted his lower lip out and glared right back, that same annoyed, indignant look that Kakashi was used to from all the people that were older than him but lower in rank. "I don't like you already. But we're on the same team, so we're supposed to be friends. Don't screw that up."_

_Kakashi rolled his eyes. Oh, wonderful, the touchy feelly type. "We're not going to be friends. Shut up."_

_"No! You don't tell me to shut up! You don't get to tell me what to do, you jerk! La la la la la, I'm not shutting up, la la la la-"_

_Good lord. Could this kid get any more annoying? "Sensei, I'm begging you. Don't make me do this-"_

_"I don't care if you're this super chuunin or not, you're a jerk! You- you- Bakashi!" _

_Kakashi smirked. "I'm surprised you had the brain cells to put that together." _

_Obito abruptly look so enraged Kakashi was almost amused, and then the Uchiha launched himself forward, fist raised in a punch. Kakashi sidestepped and the idiot would've crashed into the dirt if Minato hadn't grabbed him by the collar. "Obito, Kakashi, no fighting!"_

_"You project your attacks," Kakashi informed Obito with no heed to his teacher. "How is it that you are even a genin?"_

_Obito thrashed and yelled against Minato's hand while Kakashi smirked again, crossing his arms. He opened his mouth to continue to berate the annoying teammate-_

_And then found himself flat on his back in the dust, Minato's foot on his chest and superior, proud smile firmly in place on his face. Obito let out a howl of laughter and Kakashi's fists clenched._

_"Kakashi, when I said no fighting, I also meant no insulting your teammates to provoke them to fight." _

_"Why did you knock me down?" he growled, knowing better than to struggle against Minato's heavy weight, and the blond chuckled. _

_"Because if I hadn't, then Obito would still be screaming instead of laughing, and he wouldn't have been able to rest until HE knocked you down. Also, because you were being rude. Obito, Kakashi, apologize to each other."_

_"I'm not apologizing to that jerk! Bakashi can apologize to me first but I'm not saying anything to him!"_

_"Sensei, seriously, he's annoying." _

_Minato laughed tiredly and turned to smile at Rin, who was watching the whole situation with complete surprise. "Looks like we've got our hands full with these two, eh?" _

_She giggled, and Kakashi groaned into the dirt._

That wasn't what he remembered! He remembered Obito laughing at him and hating him, but because he was Sakumo's son, not because he wasn't exactly nice. This wasn't what he remembered happening; _none_ of these memories were true!

_"Getting mad at yourself for failing isn't going to change anything."_

_"Shut up! I'm not even mad at myself anyway- just be quiet!"_

_Kakashi frowned. He watched as Obito continued to pummel away at the training log, burying fist after fist in the wood, and almost rethought trying to do this for the tenth time already. "If you're not mad, then why are you treating that log like you usually treat me?"_

_Obito scowled over his shoulder. "I didn't say I wasn't mad, I just said I wasn't mad at myself. Now go away!" _

_Kakashi sighed softly. "I can't. If you're still this angry tomorrow, then our mission won't go smoothly." _

_The training Uchiha paused in his punches. He looked back over his shoulder, dark eyes wide in surprise. "…Is that your way of saying you care?" he asked after a moment, voice flat and almost mocking, and Kakashi just stared blankly at him, not allowing even the slightest change in his masked expression to that. _

_When he didn't reply, Obito slowly turned back around to lean back against the log he had just been trying to pulverize. He lowered his head to stare at the ground, eyes unreadable, then groaned. "Look, I'm not mad at you or myself or anything. It's just… it's just my parents."_

_"Yes?" _

_Obito shrugged unhappily. "…After I… I lost my match, Minato-sensei made sure to tell me that he was proud of me for making it that far and that I could still make chuunin this time around, but even if I didn't, I had still done really well and it didn't matter to him what rank I was. But when I went home, my parents- gah!" He twisted around to slam a fist into the log again, abruptly furious. "You're an embarrassment to the Uchiha clan, Obito. You lost against a clanless loser, Obito. You'll never be good enough, Obito. Screw you! Just because I lost, that shouldn't matter! But NO, they've always got to compare me to you, stupid genius child prodigy, and Rin, and I'm never good enough to please them. They want me to be someone else! Like some other brilliant Uchiha or Sensei or you! I just want them to be proud of ME, for once- but I'm never enough for them!" _

_Kakashi had never been good at providing comfort. He'd never been good at being understanding, sympathetic, or kind. He was blunt, insensitive, and often came off as uncaring. But he did understand what it was like to be judged purely on those skills- and most often looked down upon as not good enough. _

_He cleared his throat to talk, but Obito glared at him over his shoulder before returning to his log. "Oh, what would you know, Kakashi? You were taking these fancy, risky missions with Minato-sensei when I was still learning clones in the Academy. Everyone's always praising you and being so YOUNG and GOOD." _

_Kakashi crossed his arms. "I'm not that wonderful, Obito. Sensei refused to nominate me for the jounin exams two weeks ago- at least you got to the finals in your exam. I wasn't good enough to even take mine."_

_He came across as bitter sounding, somehow, though he hadn't meant it. Obito glanced back at him again, and his fists slowed. "…Jounin exams, chuunin exams. Big difference in skill there, Kakashi." But his words were flat and forced, and Kakashi just nodded without commenting on it. _

_He continued on to what he had been going to say before, trying his hand at being comforting. _

This wasn't what had happened. He had found Obito punching the log and tried to talk to him, but Obito had yelled at him that he was a traitor's son and didn't know the slightest thing about honor or skill. This _wasn't what had happened!_

_"When I was eight, the council got worried about sending someone so young out into war. Even though I'd been a chuunin for two years and Sensei had been giving them regular reports on my progress, it wasn't enough- I guess they decided to grow a conscience or something, I don't know. Anyway, they made me and about ten others go through another exam, and afterwards, it didn't matter that I got perfect marks, higher even than some of the jounin they tested it on. They just told me I would never measure up to my father. _

_"After we left, Minato-sensei could tell I was angry. …He told me that if I had to be someone other than myself to earn praise, then that praise wasn't worth being earned." _

_Obito's look then was nothing less than perfect. _

But none of this had ever happened-

_"Here."_

_Kakashi stared dumbly._

_Rin helped the small container out further and smiled nervously. "Minato-sensei told us you were sick. …I hope this helps you feel better."_

_He finally reached out to take the warm bowl, wrapping his hands around the blissfully hot temperature. "What is it?" he asked, voice hoarse, resisting the urge to pull down his mask so he could smell the intoxicating scent better. _

_"Chicken noodle soup." _

_Kakashi eyed the soup suspiciously. "Why? Does it have any medicinal properties?"_

_Rin giggled. "No, stupid! That's just an old wives tale. There's really nothing I can do for the flu, but I know you don't like to cook when you're tired, so I thought that… well…" She shifted awkwardly, brushing a strand of hair behind her ear through a slight blush. _

_Kakashi gave a congested sigh, moving the door out further as he moved through his mess of an apartment to put the bowl in his tiny kitchen/living room. "Thank you, but it's unnecessary. I'd be training today if Sensei hadn't ordered me not to."_

_"You would not!" she admonished sharply. "Do you want to get even worse?"_

_"But it's just the flu-"_

_"No! Oh, Kakashi… I can't believe you made Sensei order you to take it easy. Obito and I, we'd do anything for a day off. But you waste all of yours. Let me tell you, Kakashi, it's not healthy. And I should know."_

But this wasn't what had happened. When he was sick, he either would fend for himself in a dark, unsanitary apartment, or Minato would come and drag him out for training anyway. He remembered chicken noodle soup, but with Madara's face on it, Madara handing it to him when he got sick after training and telling him it would help him feel better, not Rin- this wasn't what had happened-

_Kakashi continued to simply warm his hands on the bowl, content to wait until Rin left to pull his mask down. While he stood and rubbed the ceramic, the medic sighed, looking him over with just her eyes before shaking her head. "You worry me, sometimes, Kakashi. Look at you! You're all flushed, I can see that through your silly mask. Oh- just take your soup and go lay down. Let me clean up around here, because it's a right mess- you won't get better here while it's dirty."_

_"But, Rin-"_

_The medic turned on her heel and fixed Kakashi with a glare she usually reserved for Obito. That was the look that made even Minato back down._

_And so, reluctantly, Kakashi retreated to his couch and decided to watch as Rin tried to take care of him. _

But he didn't remember that- he remembered _Madara_ taking care of him, not-

_When Kakashi woke up panicking and fighting, Minato was there, because Minato was always there. The blond was calm and smiling as always, because he knew Kakashi loved those smiles like most children his age loved a stuffed animal or a favorite blanket, and Kakashi was rubbing the sleep and memories away from his eyes before Minato could even say a word. _

_Rather than say anything, Minato simply got up and walked away from the couch in a clear invitation for him to follow. Kakashi did so, still shaking, and drew his arms tightly around himself as he followed his sensei into his kitchen. The blond silently started making tea, and Kakashi watched, quiet and still. _

This was wrong, wrong, wrong. Wrong! Madara had given him tea after his nightmares, Madara had woken him up and given him tea and comforted him- not Minato, never Minato, no one had ever cared back at Konoha if he had bad dreams, this memory had never happened-

_Minato had insisted Kakashi come stay with him, as he had every single anniversary of his father's death. Kakashi resisted a little more with each year, because he was getting old now, he really didn't need the comfort of whatever Minato was to him. Not even on this, of all days. He was a shinobi, not a child- but Minato had always smiled that sad, sad smile whenever he said that aloud, and as much as Kakashi tried to kill his emotions, he still felt guilty to see his sensei sad because of him. _

_When Minato turned back and handed one cup to Kakashi, keeping the other for himself, he began talking without preamble. "I had a bad dream a few nights ago. It was weird. I remember that it was about one of my old missions, a bad one, before you and I met."_

_Kakashi nodded stiffly. He wrapped still shaking hands firmly around the tea, smelling it for now and drawing comfort from the fact that it was there. "…It was about Tou-san," he mumbled, staring into the dark depths of his tea. Because if Minato was going to describe a bad dream of his, then it felt only right to do the same back to him. _

_"It was the mission that made me start sleeping with a kunai under my pillow, actually. I failed the mission, you see… I only survived because the enemy got bored with me. He killed one of my teammates and captured me- I wanted revenge, because I was young and stupid, and that clouded my thoughts."_

_Kakashi started on his tea, still without once looking up at Minato. "It was about when he killed himself. How I came home and found him."_

_Minato's voice remained soft and calm, never once bordering into the pity or even sympathy that Kakashi had always disliked. "In mine, the enemy came back for me. I tired to get revenge and I hit him with the kunai I keep under my pillow. Heh… I don't know why I'm so certain it's THAT kunai, but I feel like it is. And I froze up when I actually did hurt him… all the blood scared me, for some reason." _

_"Tou-san's blood scared me, too. There was so much of it, but… but he was still alive." Kakashi shivered slightly at the too-vivid memory. "Just like that night. There was more blood than I thought could be in someone before he was still awake." His voice died in his throat and he shivered again, but Minato continued, bright voice breaking through the nightmare._

_"Well, after I froze up, the enemy defeated me. Pretty easily. I tried to fight back, but it didn't work. He ended up killing me. But, you know what really freaked me out is, I turned into a ghost."_

_Kakashi couldn't help but smile, then. 'Eccentric Minato-sensei. Only he could dream up something like that'. "I hurried forward, thinking I could help him, but- but he begged me not to when I tried. I- I could've helped him, but…" _

_"The rest of the dream is a blur to me, actually." MInato spoke quickly now, voice forcibly breaking through the darkness. "I know I spent the rest of it as a ghost. Stalking my enemy, for some reason, but it wasn't like I was trying to haunt him or anything."_

_The longer they spoke, the more Minato described his weird dream, the more the horribly vivid memories of Kakashi's nightmare faded away into nothing. "I can't remember much, either," he murmured, looking up with a tentative smile. "…Thanks."_

_Minato smiled back. "For what? I didn't do anything."_

This didn't happen, this didn't happen, this didn't happen, _this didn't happen-_

_"Oi, Kakashi!"_

_"I don't care."_

_"KAKASHI!" _

_"I still don't care." _

_"KA-KA-SHI!"_

_"Still don't."_

_Obito gave a mad cackle of triumph, not seeming to get the point that Kakashi was walking away because he really didn't care. "But, Kakashi-KOHAI! You can't walk away from your senpai! I haven't dismissed you yet!"_

_That got his attention. Kakashi slowly turned on his heel to glare over his shoulder at the grinning Uchiha, trying to warn him that he wasn't in the mood for this nonsense. Minato, meanwhile, clasped a hand to his face and rubbed it tiredly, shaking his head in exasperation, while Rin was staring open-mouthed at Obito's audacity. _

_"We're both chuunin," he snapped coldly. "I'm not, have never been, and will never be, your kohai."_

_Obito looked far too happy to be legal. "Ah, ah, ah, Kakashi. I am eleven. YOU are ten. We may be the same rank now, but I'm older than you! That means I'm your superior, Kakashi! HA! I can give you orders now!" _

_Minato looked even more exasperated while Rin began to giggle. Kakashi continued to glare, severely unamused. "Obito, that isn't how it works at all. If you want to be technical, then I am still your senpai. I've been a chuunin for five years… you, for five minutes."_

_"I'm older than you, I'm older than you, I'm older than you-"_

_"Obito, I really don't care at all-"_

_"I'm older than you! I'm in chaaaarge of you!"_

_"Obito, I'm warning you-" _

_"In chaaaaarge! In chaaaaarge! In chaaaaaarge-"_

_"I'll show YOU in charge!" Kakashi turned fully and launched himself at Obito, while Minato continued to groan and Rin just kept on giggling. _

But. This. Hadn't. Happened.

_Kakashi knew he was dying. It didn't hurt, but it should have, he couldn't feel anything when all he should've been able to feel was pain, and he knew that it was over. This was as far as he went. _

_But Rin was sobbing and Obito was screaming like it was the end of the world for them, too, and he didn't want that. If he had learned anything today, it was to put his friends first, and his duties second. And right now, all he had left was his friends- there were no duties anymore. _

_"Obito… don't- don't cry. It's… going to be o…kay. Really."_

_Obito pounded the ground with his fists before throwing his shoulder against the massive boulder again, attacking the thing with everything he had until his knuckles were bloody and raw. "How can you SAY THAT?!" he yelled, tears streaming angrily down dirty cheeks. "Don't talk like that until we've gotten you out and saved you! Don't talk like it's okay to die!"_

_Kakashi would've shaken his head if he could move his neck. "You can't help me. I'm dying, Obito… I know I am."_

_"NO! DON'T TALK LIKE THAT!" _

_Rin reached out a shaking hand to touch Obito's arm. She opened her mouth to speak but her voice failed her, and the Uchiha ripped away from only to sink to his knees, trembling too much to stand. "Y-You idiot," he panted, shutting his eyes, shaking his head, the very picture of denial. "We are going to get you out of there. Rin's going to heal you like always and then y-you'll be f-f-fine." _

But this wasn't what had happened. Minato had been there and they hadn't been crying, they'd been laughing, and-

_"Obito, I can't. I can't feel anything on his left side. …We can't-"_

_"Rin, don't-"_

_"She's right, Obito. …You can't help." Kakashi's voice let him down, then, refusing to say anything else, but it was enough. Obito raised his head to look at him, the worst horror Kakashi had ever seen in his eyes, before his remaining strength fled and the dark-haired boy collapsed across the cave floor. _

_"I'm sorry. God, I'm sorry. Kakashi… if I hadn't run off on my own- if I had just talked to you, and made a plan together, then-"_

_"It's my fault." Kakashi coughed, the strained, choked noise bringing Obito's wet gaze back to him and Rin's roving green hands back over his ruined torso, hands that were worthless but that he knew she couldn't help but use. "I was being stupid. I made you run off on your own. You had to."_

_"But-" _

_"Don't argue. …I'm dying. Do you have to argue with me through my last words?" _

_Kakashi had never seen a more tortured expression than Obito's in that moment. _

_He coughed again, and this time, felt blood stain his mask. "Listen, both of you. I'm sorry. I'm sorry for failing you as a team captain… I'm sorry for being a jerk when you were only trying to be nice… I'm so sorry for thinking a rule was more important than you, Rin. It's not. Obito- thank you for making me understand that."_

_Rin's hand found his; Obito looked like it was too hard to breathe, let alone move. Kakashi struggled to go on, but his strength was rapidly disappearing and speaking was difficult. "Obito, at my funeral, don't get dust in your eye. Rule tw-… you know, scratch that. I'd like to think that you see me as more important than the rules, too… at least a little… Obito…" _

_"Kakashi-"_

_"I'd hope that… after everything I've done… you still see me as a friend." _

_"Kakashi!" _

But this hadn't happened! This wasn't what he remembered! No, no, no!

_Obito left to fight off the enemy, ensuring that Kakashi's sacrifice was not in vain. Rin stayed with him, holding his hand so he didn't die alone. _

But that didn't happen! They all left him behind smirking and laughing, no one had been crying and they had all been happy, this wasn't what had happened-

_"Who are you?"_

_His mysterious savior merely shrugged, mouth twitched in the barest imitation of a frown. "In good time. I think, since you are in my home, you should introduce yourself first, anyway."_

_Kakashi would've shifted uneasily if it hadn't hurt so much. "Hatake Kakashi," he replied stiffly, "jounin."_

_The stranger nodded, as if pleased. "Good. I sensed much Chakra from you, for your age… I didn't chose wrongly, then. Hatake, though? I haven't heard that name since Sakumo was born." _

_Kakashi blinked in muted disbelief. Then he winced, because even blinking hurt, and continued to stare. "…That was my father."_

_But the stranger just laughed. "I'm not that young, I'm afraid. Try your father's father."_

_Kakashi chose to not to reply to that comment- just how old was this man? Instead, he licked his dry lips and continued on a different path of conversation, eye roving around the small, underground cave. "Thank you for saving my life. But why did you?"_

_"As I said, all in good time. You'll get your answers eventually. And no need to thank me, Kakashi. You'll be repaying me soon enough."_

_Kakashi wasn't so sure he liked the sound of that. "Actually, no. I have to get back to Konoha. I didn't ask you to save me, I don't owe you anything."_

_The stranger didn't seem very concerned, though. "You're not going to be getting back to Konoha anytime soon. For one, you are in no condition to stand, let alone travel."_

_"Then I demand you take me back there. They're fighting a war, they- god, my team thinks I'm dead. You have to take me back-"_

_"No. First of all, you wouldn't survive it in this condition, second of all, my plans for you don't involve me delivering you back to Konoha." _

_Kakashi frowned. That hurt, too. "Then what exactly ARE your plans for me?"_

This wasn't how this had happened. Madara hadn't spoken of plans or anything like this when he'd woken up; this wasn't right, just like everything wasn't right, it was all wrong, wrong, wro-

_"Kakashi, I have a problem with you."_

_Kakashi rolled his eyes. His new one still ached a little at the motion but it went ignored as he stared resolutely at the wall. "Well, I have a problem with you, Madara. You keep talking like I'm going to become your pawn."_

_"That's the idea, yes."_

_"Well, get a new one. I'm a Konoha ninja first, second, and always. I don't know how you're still alive, but just because you saved my life doesn't mean I have to serve you."_

_Madara sighed loudly. "You see, that's the problem. Because you are GOING to serve me. I didn't waste one of my eyes on a non-Uchiha for nothing. My plan to get the Rinnegan out of you didn't work, but that doesn't mean you're worthless."_

_"Spelling out your plans to me only gives me more to tell Konoha when I get back there."_

_Madara rolled his eyes. "Big talk, always, it's big talk with you. See, I wish you hadn't pushed me this far, Kakashi. Doing this is going to bring me even closer to death. …But, it's necessary." The Uchiha looked back at Kakashi, his one remaining eye rotating into the red of the Sharingan, and then the black, pinwheel shape that Kakashi had seen on him before but didn't recognize. Whatever it was, he was sure it was bad. He would've looked away if he thought it would accomplish anything, but Madara was already standing and staring straight at him, demonic gaze boring into his own._

_"Tsukuyomi."_

This had never happened. No Tsukuyomi, no Mangekyou Sharingan, no anything, anything, anything. None of this had ever happened. Because this was Madara, Madara had never hurt him, Madara would never put him under genjutsu, this was _Madara_ who had taken care of him and protected him and healed him and-

_Minato, Obito, and Rin were there, but it hurt. It hurt like he was being burned alive from the inside out, and every memory of torture training went out the window as he screamed, thrashing and fighting against the agony. It hurt so much, and Minato, Obito, and Rin were there, laughing at him, for some reason, laughing continuously and calling him a traitor's son, that it was all his fault that it hurt so much-_

_Calm down, calm down. This is genjutsu. This must be genjutsu. Calm down and break out of it. _

_It's not working! Why can't I break this?! It's not working!_

_"Sensei!" he screamed, gasping when it felt like Madara had reached into his chest and set his heart on fire. "Sensei, help me! SENSEI!"_

_Minato laughed, and then his vision twisted, and it was another memory that he didn't remember occurring. It was Minato smirking down at him, the expression foreign on his usually smiling face, and Kakashi found himself sinking closer into whatever it was he lying against. But that suddenly felt wet and cold and horrible, and he turned to find that it was his father's body, gaping, bloody smile torn into his stomach, the blade still buried deep within him, and he screamed again._

_"Seems like he finally offed himself, huh? You going to be next, Kakashi?"_

_This didn't happen, it was just genjutsu, it was just genjutsu, it was just genjutsu-_

_"Or are you going to make us figure out a way to get rid of you? Seriously, it would be easiest if you just killed yourself. Less for us to deal with."_

_It suddenly hurt again, that raging fire from before, hurt too much to do anything but scream. And Minato did nothing but laugh. _

_Obito and Rin floated around behind him, repeating the words that he should just kill himself now- like a traitor's son, a shinobi without honor isn't a shinobi, Kakashi, just kill yourself now you worthless piece of trash, no one wants you here-_

_And just when the horrifically echoing voices and the agony became too much to bear, it ended. It all ended, and he was back with Madara, and nothing hurt and everything was okay again. _

_Just when he had caught his breath it started again, though, worse than before. He couldn't breathe and there was his team, laughing again, calling him traitor's son again, and it hurt so much all over again-_

_This is just genjutsu. It has to be genjutsu! God, it hurts… why can't I dispel it?! Kai, kai, kai! _

_But the nightmare continued. _

_No matter where he looked, no matter which way he turned, they were always there. It wasn't just his team anymore, it was everyone in Konoha, Jiraiya Sandaime Gai Genma Tsunade Shizune-_

_Kai, kai, kai! _

_And then they all disappeared, and he was with Madara again, Madara who wasn't laughing at him for being Sakumo's son and who didn't make it hurt like he was being cooked alive-_

_No, Madara is the one behind this. He's the one making you hurt, Kakashi, this is his genjutsu. Don't fall for it. Don't fall for it. Do NOT fall for it. _

_He repeated those words to himself again when the process began itself anew once more, horrific, never-ending pain accompanied with his team's laughs and insults, and then the soothing balm of wondrous peace with Madara, but they were harder to understand. _

_And again, and again, and again. _

_Again, again, again. _

_Kakashi had passed the point when he couldn't take it anymore long ago, lost in a sea of agony that rose up over him and smothered him, choking him, drowning him, when everything and anything of any importance whatsoever, even his own name, drifted away into nothing. He gave up chanting kai, because he didn't even remember what that meant anymore, he gave up screaming because he couldn't even hear it anymore, he gave up pleading for his sensei to help. Minato didn't care, anyway. Minato only saw him as Sakumo's son. Minato wouldn't care that he needed help. _

_Traitor's son-_

_Then Madara was back, and he could breathe again. _

_This time, drifting in a world of peace and wonderful no pain, he felt a large, warm hand come to rest on his shoulder. "Hang on, Kakashi," Madara whispered, eyes kind and smile warm. "It'll be over soon." _

_"Madara," he tried to choke out, but it began again before he could and his laughing, agonizing team was back. He screamed out again at the torture they brought, but Madara's hand never left his shoulder. _

_He focused on the soft, familiar strength, holding onto that when he could remember nothing else. _

_Memories of Madara came to his mind, interspersing through the choking, strangling agony. The few moments when he could remember nothing but Madara were filled with peace and relief, and he clung to them, wanting more, begging for the man to come back._

_There was Madara when he was sick, when he was hurt, keeping him company when he had to stay in bed and making him soup and taking care of him and- _

_Minato, laughing, Rin, glaring, Obito, pushing him down next to his father's grave and telling him to stay there-_

_Madara, sitting next to him after a nightmare, saying it was all going to be okay, that it was just a dream-_

_"Oh, you survived, Kakashi," Obito muttered, huffing as Kakashi dragged himself away from the battle, panting and bleeding and hurt. "How great." The disappointment and sarcasm in his voice hurt more than his wounds did, and he looked up at them sadly, wishing they hadn't abandoned him in battle just because of who his father was, that they would stop trying to leave him to die and-_

_"It was hard work, but I saved you, Kakashi. You're going to have to rest and take it easy for a while, but you're out of the woods." Madara smiled at him, gesturing from Kakashi's ruined left eye to his own bandaged one. "I replaced your eye with one of my own. Sorry, but I couldn't heal your eye- I had to transplant my own. You have a Sharingan now. Maa, there's no need to look so worried- I'll help you learn how to use it." _

_Then Madara disappeared and the pain was back, but, this time, he was dying in that cave in again and Minato, Obito, and Rin stood above him, discussing in worried, frantic voices what to do. _

_"We can't bring him back AGAIN! They all expected this to be the mission that he would die on."_

_"I'm not wasting my medical ninjutsu on him," Rin snapped. "He's hurt so bad that I'd wind up with Chakra exhaustion. No way, no how, Sensei."_

_Obito shrugged. "Then just LEAVE him here. Seriously… it's not like anybody'll be upset that he didn't come back. We can just say he was hurt worse than he really is and that we couldn't save him."_

_"Hmm." Minato nodded thoughtfully, glancing down at Kakashi before back to his team again. "You know, that's actually a good idea, Obito. Rin? That good with you?"_

_She nodded eagerly. "Yes, yes! Whatever that'll finally rid us of the traitor's son." _

_"Then it's settled." Minato turned back and waved down at Kakashi, features arranged into a sick, beaming smile. "See you around. Or… I guess we won't." _

_And then they were gone, and he was dying and they didn't even care and he was going to die here alone and cold and abando-_

_Kakashi screamed again, shut his eyes and screamed until he couldn't scream anymore. _

_But then, warmth, again, and no pain, again. Madara was back. _

_"Kakashi?" Voice, soft and kind. Eyes, warm and understanding. "Kakashi, are you okay?"_

_"Madara…"_

_Madara smiled at him, protective hand resting over his back as he fought to breathe and come back to reality. "You were screaming in your sleep again. Was it a nightmare?"_

_A nightmare… that was all it was. Just a bad dream. _

_"It… it was horrible," he whispered, blinking and staring down at his shaking hands. "I thought- I-"_

_"It's okay, Kakashi. It was just a dream."_

No, no, _no_.


	11. Arc Three 2

I'm really glad everybody seemed to like the rest chapter. Kakashi's motivation took me a while to come up with and I wasn't sure if it would be well-received or not; apparently, it was :) So, thank you for reviewing, and enjoy!

* * *

Obito groaned as he and Rin stepped out of yet another ruined research lab. "How big _is_ this place?" he grumbled, leading the pair down the dusty hallway. "We've been through five labs already."

"Be grateful that it looks like most of Orochimaru's research was here, then. We get to free more of his prisoners and get access to his research."

"What research?" Obito retorted. "Rin, the explosion exposed all of his freaky underground research labs, and then your water attack blasted on down here. All his computers and whatnot are broken, the papers and records are soaked- all that's left here are a bunch of cages with… I don't really know what inside." He shuddered slightly. "We really need to get these people out of here. I don't know what we're going to do with them, I mean… most of them don't even look human anymore."

Rin nodded slowly back. "I know. Don't worry; I'm sure Sensei will let them come to Konoha and then- well, we can figure out more there. It's not like it's their fault; I don't they were exactly Orochimaru's willing subordinates."

"You don't say." Obito turned around a corner again, groaning when he saw yet another long, dark hallway with a multitude of the same boring grey doors that the base was full of. "Oh, come _on!_ This is getting ridiculous! With the way this is going, it'll take the two of us all day to raid the place!"

"Well, come on, then," Rin muttered, voice tired and resigned. "Complaining won't make it take any less time." She prodded Obito forward and, with another loud groan, the Uchiha slouched forward to open the first door on the right.

It looked like yet another lab, no different than the others. Dripping remains of monitors and other equipment, plastered all around the walls, with other research materials that Obito didn't even want to think about abandoned in puddles on the floor. More than one place on the stone walls or floor was scorched black from the reactions with Orochimaru's chemicals and Sanbi's deluge of water, and Obito took care to step around the other luminous or oddly colored puddles, avoiding the likely mutagens and poisons.

Like all the other labs, this one had its human test subject, too. And, like most of the other ones, he didn't look fully human anymore, either.

This one was bound tightly to a lab table, leather straps secured about his limbs and chest. He wore nothing but a thin pair of grey pants, enabling them both to see the strange, zigzag patterned scar across his torso, splitting his human side with his… not so human side. His left side was an odd, pastel white up to the neck, while the left side of his face was heavily disfigured, scarred and wrinkled, hardly recognizable as a human's face.

His left eye was marked through by a long scar, arcing from above a silver eyebrow to nearly his jaw. Both eyes were closed in a forced sleep, chest rising and falling in uneven, jagged breaths, with beads of sweat mingling with droplets of water across his inhuman body. A needle pierced the skin of his regular arm, pouring some surely mutating, poisonous drug into his bloodstream, and Obito resisted the urge to tear it out like he'd wanted to with every other one of Orochimaru's test subjects they'd found so far.

That silver hair, though- that was odd. Obito had never seen anyone with hair like that except for Kakashi.

His mouth fell open.

Unless… this was…

Obito's blood ran cold as he realized that yes, in fact, it _was_.

It didn't look like Kakashi at all. Obito had seen him without his mask only a few times, and that was when he was still a kid- and not half… whatever he was now. But that was thirteen years ago. Kakashi had gotten older, aging throughout the decade apart into someone almost unrecognizable. The half of his body that had been crushed was the white and disfigured one, he realized with a jolt, and Obito reached forward with one shaking hand to touch his inhuman form.

One look at Rin confirmed she was thinking exactly as he was. She reached forward as well, prying up the scarred eyelid to reveal a Sharingan.

Without a doubt, that was Kakashi.

He blinked and saw Rin yanking at the restraining straps, ripping them off Kakashi, and Obito joined in, furiously pulling them back with such strength he almost tore them off the table. It was awful, so, so awful and amazing all at once, because Kakashi was actually alive and safe and they were with him again for the first time in thirteen years. Obito didn't care if he were human or not, he didn't care about the strange Sharingan or the odd white half; none of that mattered.

All that mattered was that Kakashi was alive.

"Kakashi!" he yelled, finally freeing him from the last strap before grabbing him by the shoulders, sitting him upright. "Kakashi, it's us! Can you hear me? It's us, Kakashi!" He shook the man violently, turning to Rin with wide eyes when he didn't got anything but Kakashi limply flopping in his arms. "Rin, what's wrong with him? He's not waking up!"

"Come on, lay him back down, let me see." Rin's voice was tight with concern, a horrible anxiety that reminded Obito that Kakashi wasn't exactly safe yet. He did as she asked, putting Kakashi back down on the table while Rin examined him with glowing hands, eyes closed as her healing Chakra spread over his body. Her eyes shot open a moment later, wide in disbelief, and Obito gasped.

"What? What's wrong, Rin? Is he okay?! Rin!"

"I don't know! It's- his body- I've never felt anything like this before!" She stared at the disfigured half before shaking her head vigorously and reverting both her eyes and her hands to his human body. "I'm sorry- just let me focus!" Her hands were shaking now, trembling violently as they continued their search for injury or harm. "…There's poison. I think. Something foreign that's not supposed to be there, but I don't think it's doing any damage. But I can't tell! That side of his body, it's all wrong, it's probably from that-"

"Well push the foreign thing out! You've done that with poison before, right?! Just get it out of him!"

"I can't! Not without knowing what it is; it could hurt him more!" Rin continued her rapid-fire examination while Obito stared, his heart in his throat.

Finally the medic withdrew, opening her eyes once again an nodding firmly. "It's not from his other half, whatever the foreign substance is. His other half feels different. And it's coming from that- whatever Orochimaru was putting into him." She pointed at the needle in his wrist and bit down on her lower lip, still looking over him anxiously. Rin stopped Obito when he tried to yank the drugs away from Kakashi, shooting him a look. "We've been through this already; we don't know what's in that! Disconnecting him without knowing that could kill him!"

"Well we're not taking him home with that in him!"

"Then give me a second to figure out what it is!" Rin followed the transparent plastic tube inserted into Kakashi's arm back to the source, then shook her head angrily. "It's no good. There's nothing here to tell us what it is."

"Then- then what about Sanbi?!" Obito gasped, desperate now. "Could you ask him?"

Rin looked to him worriedly, brown eyes narrow in uncertainty. "…Fine. That's no guarantee, though."

Obito let out a relieved sigh as his wife bowed her head and shut her eyes, stance relaxing as she searched inside herself for the bijuu. Obito looked anxiously between her and the still unconscious Kakashi, fists clenching and unclenching around thin air as he fought the urge to help. There was nothing he could do now; it was all on Rin.

His hand migrated to rest limply on Kakashi's human shoulder, gripping it so tight his nails dug sharply into pale flesh. He only stopped when he blood rose to the skin, and then he closed his eyes and looked away rather than remove his hand.

_Hang on, Bakashi. Just let Rin do her stuff. _

As if on cue, Rin opened her eyes again. She blinked, falling back into reality again before she shook her head as if to clear it, then smiled grimly. "Sanbi said he recognizes the drugs; they were more common in the Rikudou Sennin era. But he's never seen them in this combination before-"

"Is it safe to take this out of him or not?!"

"It's safe, it's safe!"

Obito ripped the drugs away from Kakashi's wrist, pressing one hand down on the tiny wound to stop the sudden rise of blood. Rin held out one hand and gestured for him to move back with the other, eyes tight with concentration. "I'm going to have to use my Kurenjingu-Kyuutai. Stay back until I'm done."

He nodded, stumbling a few steps away without protest. Rin's trademark jutsu may be used for healing and not killing, but it could pack a punch if it hit him accidentally. He watched as blue swirls of water began to gather over her palm, spinning and twisting to form a whirlpool of power. The glowing azure orb grew in size until it was larger than Kakashi's head, and Rin took a deep breath as she sent the Chakra-infused water to seep and meld into Kakashi's chest.

It wouldn't take long to draw out the drug now. There was a reason Rin was known as a greater poison specialist than even Tsunade, and that reason was this jutsu. They had yet to encounter a substance yet that could beat it, and that included all the messes they had run into with Orochimaru over the years. Whatever the Sannin had put into Kakashi, it was nothing compared to Rin's jutsu; Obito was confident about that.

Sure enough, he watched as Kakashi began to twitch and jerk, same as all others subjected to Rin's cleansing orb as it did its work. The water dragged the stuff that didn't belong straight out, sucking it in and ravaging at whatever resisted until it, too, was pulled away. It wasn't exactly a picnic for the body, but it was better than letting the poison continue to wreck and destroy.

Finally, with one great, shuddering gasp from the limp body beneath Rin, the last remnants of black and violet poison were yanked out of Kakashi and Rin raised her hand, bringing the entirety of her jutsu with it. She let the water splash out over the floor carelessly while Obito shook Kakashi's shoulder slightly again, knowing already it was worthless. People could sleep for days after undergoing Rin's jutsu. If Kakashi was in any kind of condition to be awake and talking right now, which Obito doubted, Rin's technique was still going to keep him out of it for at least twelve hours.

He cast a worried eye at Rin, who was panting slightly and wiping at a bead of sweat on her forehead. "You all right?" he asked her, already sitting Kakashi up again and looking for any more injuries for them to deal with.

She nodded weakly. "Yeah. I just didn't realize that my Chakra was still a little low from when Sanbi tried to drown everything. I'm okay… or will be, at any rate. How's Kakashi?"

Obito shrugged helplessly. "I can't tell. This white stuff- what is it, anyway? Well, it's getting in my way. I don't see anything wrong on the normal half of him, though."

"We can worry about the other side of him when we get back to Konoha. He'll probably be able to tell us himself there. But it's not doing him any harm, otherwise my jutsu would've attacked it- he'll last until we can find out more about it."

"Good." Obito shifted to try and situate Kakashi on his back, then stopped. "Wait up a second." He turned back around and tore at his sleeve, ripping off a good hunk of it before tying it around the lower half of Kakashi's face. It hid most of the scarring and made at least his head look more like a human's and less like some deformed monster's- but also more like Kakashi.

It hadn't truly sunk in until that moment that Kakashi was alive. The teammate they had all thought had died thirteen years ago was here before them now, human (more or less), breathing, and safe. He wasn't dead and all the guilt both Obito and Rin still harbored over how horribly wrong that mission at Kannabi bridge had gone disappeared in that one instant.

It didn't matter that they had been separated for thirteen years. It didn't matter that they hadn't tried to help him when he was with Orochimaru or whoever, undergoing who knows what. It didn't matter that if they had just acted as a team thirteen years ago, then none of this would have happened.

What mattered was that Kakashi was here, alive, now.

Obito grinned.

"_Now_, let's go home."

_One week later_

Kakashi woke with a start.

It took him a full minute to process and understand what had happened. He remembered Orochimaru. He remembered a few worthless experiments, ones that had amused him rather than worried him- but then…

He remembered watching his life on replay, like Orochimaru had somehow made his life go back in time and he'd had to watch it again. But there were no breaks for sleep, and often it had felt almost like his memories were on fast forward, rushing past situations without care for what they were missing. He remembered that clearly.

Except, those memories… he'd thought they were false. That they were not real, because that wasn't how he remembered them.

_There had been something sickeningly familiar about them, but, in the end, nothing more than a delusion…_

Until the utterly strange recording reached the point when he'd been found by Madara.

There were times when Kakashi cursed being a genius, and this was certainly one of them, because it wouldn't let him play denial or ignorance. He understood exactly what he had seen, and he knew that every other explanation for what Orochimaru had somehow shown him was impractical.

Those memories, those memories of Tsukuyomi- they were the truth.

He abruptly felt sick, sick and lied to, like the title worst person on the planet wasn't enough for him and as if the monster he looked like was now the monster he _was_. Madara had lied to him.

And, worse, he had believed him.

But Madara was like- like his father. Madara had done everything for him that he had never had and seen him as something besides his father's son-

But so had Minato. So had Obito. So had Rin. So had Jiraiya, Sandaime, Gai- so had they.

And Madara hadn't been able to use someone who was loyal to Konoha like he was.

_Use someone. …He used me. Madara USED me._

So he had used Tsukuyomi on him, the illusion dragging on for what had felt like an eternity. Madara had associated the worst pain he had ever felt in his life with his old friends back in Konoha and seamlessly integrated his own face into Kakashi's memories, planting false ones along with it, false ones of _everyone _treating him like those few elders and other, more opinionated shinobi still grounded in the past did, _everyone_ treating him like a shameful excuse for a shinobi that deserved to die for his father's mistakes- but that wasn't true. Minato had yelled at those who treated him like that, told them to shut up, grow a brain, and stop sticking their noses into other people's business.

And then he had always, always told Kakashi that what they said wasn't true.

Madara had lifted that memory right out of his head, though. All those memories of his team, his friends- gone. Replaced with mocking, murderous versions of the truth, versions that he hated-

But that was Madara.

Always, Madara.

Kakashi couldn't believe he had been taken like this. All of that Tsukuyomi- that shouldn't have been enough to break him. That shouldn't have shattered his mind into something for Madara to mold to his will. He should have been stronger; _nothing_ should have been enough to make him forget the people who cared about him.

Madara's false memories, though- the ones where Minato's kind face had been replaced with a smiling Uchiha's, the ones that Madara had created entirely based of nothing, he still remembered those. He still remembered how Madara had treated him after the Tsukuyomi attack- like a student, a disciple, a pupil… not the pawn he had become.

Madara's false memories had only been bolstered by that. And now- the man who he had trusted his life with, the man that he had lived the last twenty years trying to bring back- all a lie.

A _lie_.

It hurt more than he had thought possible to understand that. So much more than that worthless Tsukuyomi ordeal; that was nothing compared to this.

Oh, god, what had he _done?_

That war… all the villages he had burned to the ground- the homes he had destroyed- the people he had killed. Three years of true hell. So much pain, so much suffering…

All because he'd believed a lie.

Kakashi could've hated Madara, but he could not bring himself to do such a thing.

Certainly not when himself was far worthier a target, anyway.

He opened his eyes.

Wherever he was, it wasn't Orochimaru's lab, which was probably a good thing. His Chakra wasn't sealed anymore, and it didn't feel like he was restrained, which led to more questions. Where was he? Who had rescued him?

Who would _want_ to rescue him? Even in his own time, the only people he hadn't tried to hurt and kill were his fellow Akatsuki. Eight years in the past, he was well and truly alone.

Like he deserved.

"Shinobi-san?"

Kakashi stiffened.

He sat slowly upright, feeling limp, aching muscles protest as if they hadn't moved in a while. His Zetsu half was slow to react and felt tired, with his Sharingan blankly rapidly, trying to adjust to the double vision he was usually so attuned to.

Two ANBU guards stood at the door to the room- Konoha ones. Perhaps Naruto had changed his mind about Orochimaru and taken him back here instead?

As he watched, one of the guards silently left the room, closing the door behind him, while the other one continued to face him. "Shinobi-san, I have been instructed to inform that you are in Konoha. My partner went to go tell Obito-san, Rin-san, and MInato-sama that you have woken up. I have to ask that you please don't try to leave until they get here."

Kakashi frowned slightly. That didn't sound like he was being held captive.

Although, given who he was, that should have been obvious- if Konoha wanted to keep him here against his will, then he would've been in the ANBU-level prison. Which raised questions to why he wasn't.

The ANBU hadn't mentioned Naruto. _Just his old team_, he thought with a stab of pain at the memories of his own betrayal. But… perhaps Naruto's presence here was being kept secret? That would be wise, considering time travel probably wasn't something much of the village would be very accepting about. Except that still didn't explain why he wasn't in an ANBU security prison. Or any prison. Or restrained in any way whatsoever.

He looked down at himself, searching for clues. His Akatsuki robe was gone, though his mask remained- in place of his usual black and red outfit was a Konoha shinobi uniform, sans vest and headband. That was strange. He was also in a bed, which was even stranger. This definitely wasn't how a hidden village treated hostiles.

"Can you tell me where I am?" he asked the remaining ANBU, keeping his eyes focused down at himself. His voice was strained and tired, hoarse with disuse. Just how long had he been unconscious?

"The Hokage mansion."

Even stranger. The place had good security, yes, but not good enough to stop him from breaking out with ease. Then again, he had yet to encounter a prison with defenses strong enough to not allow that- even Orochimaru. Given time, Kakashi could have broken out without too much trouble.

So what was he doing here? Being treated like… like he hadn't turned his back on everyone who cared about him and tried to destroy them?

Was it possible that they didn't know?

Kakashi cast a wary eye at the faceless ANBU still guarding the door. Whatever was going on, if he wanted to escape, it would be best to do so now.

He didn't move.

Kakashi was still frozen when the door opened. He found himself staring at it, unsure if the dead, sick feeling inside of him could translate into dread or curiosity. He picked self-disgust instead; that was a safe bet.

Leading the way at the door was Minato.

Kakashi abruptly felt so horrible he had to fight down the urge to be sick, and at that gentle, smiling, horribly familiar face, he still felt bile rise in his throat. He had to breathe slowly and carefully, swallowing back the liquid that kept trying to rise up again until he was calm enough to look at Minato and not vomit.

He hadn't seen that smile in so long. The last time he'd seen Minato, the man had been twisting and squirming in agony on the bloody ground, side a ruined mess and body wracked with spasms from the poison Kakashi had forced into his system. The last time Minato had smiled at him- that true, innocent smile…

Not in twenty-one years had he seen that smile.

How could he have forgotten that smile? How could he have thought Madara had looked at him like that? That was Minato. It had always been Minato. Never Madara…

And he'd forgotten everything Minato had ever done for him.

Kakashi had to swallow down bile again.

Minato and his smile were followed by Rin. Rin, who had cared about him- loved him, even. And Kakashi may not have loved her back, not like she wanted, but she had been important to him. She had been one of the best friends he'd ever had.

And, just like Minato's smile, he'd forgotten her love.

_How could I have done this? _

_How could I have forgotten you? _

If this kept up, he really was going to get sick, and because he was still wearing his mask he was going to aspirate and drown in his own vomit. A nice, good old disgusting death befitting for the likes of him.

If Minato and Rin were here, it wouldn't be a party without Obito, too. And, sure enough, behind Rin came her husband- a tall, dark-haired Uchiha that was always grinning and always happy, until Kakashi showed up in his life as the masked Akatsuki leader and ruined it all.

The last thing Obito had done for him was send him back in time. Obito could've very easily just lifted him up and out to his kamui dimension and left him to die there, but instead, he had sent him back in time- saving his life and being the friend he most certainly didn't deserve.

The last thing Kakashi had done for him was to laugh in his face and tell him that the Kakashi he remembered wasn't going to come back. He'd told Obito to stop whining and lying, told him that it was his own cold-hearted hate that had partly led to Kakashi becoming what he had.

Obito had been devastated all over again.

And it was completely his fault.

Minato spoke first, and his voice was just as kind as he remembered, if a bit uncertain. "Kakashi? …How are you?"

The ANBU guard exited silently, leaving Kakashi alone with what had once been his team, and the silent concern in the blond's expression pushed him over the edge. All the bile he'd swallowed came back up and then some, and before Kakashi knew what was happening, he had ripped down his mask and gotten sick all over himself.

He heard concerned gasps, worried exclamations, frantic rushes of footsteps. And their misplaced concern for _him_ only made him feel worse.

They cared about him. They had cared about him all this time, and he had let Madara make him forget.

He had let Madara take them away from him.

There was one hand on his shoulder, large, warm, and hesitant. A slim arm wrapping around his heaving chest in what he thought was supposed to be comforting, an arm clad in bright blue and one tan hand that he recognized as Minato's. "Relax," a voice murmured in his ear, soft and gentle but also nervous and hesitant. "It's okay, Kakashi; you're back in Konoha. You're safe."

That wasn't going to make him feel better. Minato treating him like he deserved; perhaps that might. But not this.

"Kakashi?"

_Soft. Kind. Concerned. _

_Madara- _

That was Madara.

This was wrong. This was what he remembered Madara doing for him, and Minato not.

How could he have forgotten this?

Kakashi pulled away from Minato before he could feel even worse. He swallowed back another wave of sickness and pulled his mask back up, inhaling the acrid smell and using it to keep his thoughts from spiraling out of control.

"…What's going on?" He couldn't lift his eyes up from his lap; that was too hard. Kakashi stared down at himself instead; the fluids he'd just expelled weren't exactly interesting, but they were easier to blink at then his former team, and far more preferable. He shut his Sharingan eye, not wanting to see with all the detail and clarity it provided.

It was Obito who answered him. From somewhere to his left, he could hear, with Rin; Minato still sat behind him, providing support that made Kakashi's already queasy stomach flip again. "We managed to track you down in Orochimaru's lab. We also got the blond guy who captured you; he was rambling some nonsense about time travel, and you being our enemy, but don't worry. We know he was lying."

The blond that captured him?

Naruto.

Kakashi's voice sounded empty, even to his own ears, when he answered. He couldn't think of anything to say but the truth, and, right now, the truth was that Naruto was an innocent that he had ruined.

"He was telling the truth." About everything. About him being a worthless criminal that deserved to die. About all the suffering he had caused, about- about everything. "He- Naruto was telling the truth."

A stunned silence followed his words. Kakashi just wanted them all away from him; he wanted them to stop talking to him like he deserved friendship and care.

Madara had made him forget them.

_They deserve better than me. _

It was getting hard to breathe, with them all so close to him. Kakashi stood abruptly and moved away, stumbling as his human half struggled to support itself while his Zetsu half remained as strong and steady as ever. He managed to make it far enough to support himself against the wall, staring blankly at the paint and making sure he couldn't see any sign of the three behind him.

"…Kakashi?"

There, that was Rin. She sounded worried, and he closed his eye in pain.

"Kakashi, you don't have to worry- he's not going to get to you again; we've got him down at T and I and he's not getting out. You don't have to lie; we know you would never be our enemy and he's not going to be able to do anything to you if you tell us the truth..."

There, that was Obito. Misunderstanding and jumping to conclusions as always. "No," he whispered. "I'm not lying. He was telling the truth."

Another silence followed, this one darker and thicker than the first. Kakashi heard soft footsteps, then felt as if a hand was coming to rest down on his shoulder, his Zetsu shoulder. He stepped out of the way before it could land, resisting the urge to sprout out a wooden tentacle or two to force it away.

"He was telling the truth," he repeated. His voice wasn't shaking, which was odd, because with the way he felt, it probably should be. "Let Naruto go. He didn't do anything wrong. _Anything_. …Please don't hurt him." _Please don't hurt anyone on my behalf. I've hurt enough people already. _

"Kakashi-"

"I said let him go." Kakashi was used to his orders being followed, and even though he didn't feel very much in charge here, and his voice sounded a bit desperate now, not steady or certain or like the commander he had once been, he still expected them to be listened to.

None of his former team that he had let down so spectacularly said a thing, and Kakashi didn't want to turn to try and read their expressions to see why they weren't talking. For one, that meant looking at them. At those _smiles_ and those _eyes_ and… If he didn't want to get sick again, then that was a very bad idea. He just wanted them out of here. Out, out, _out_.

"I won't speak to anyone except Naruto."

Because they all deserved an explanation, but no one more so than Naruto.

"Kakashi, please-"

"I said that I won't speak to anyone but Naruto."

It was quiet again. Kakashi's chest felt tight, his throat even more so, and his eye was starting to burn in a weird way. It hurt so badly and all he could think was that he wanted Madara like a little girl wanted her stuffed bear.

That, in turn, made it hurt even worse.

"Y-you're safe now, Kakashi, you don't have to-"

"Obito, stop."

Rin's interruption was soft, voice trembling, but it did make her husband stop in his tracks. He waited for them to leave him alone, because his eye was burning worse now, and he still didn't know why. Then it felt just slightly wet, and he understood.

"Well be back soon, Kakashi, with… with Naruto. Please just understand you're back in Konoha now? Nothing's going to happen to you anymore."

_Shut up, Minato, and go away. _His eye was wet and wouldn't quit burning. And as he heard the door softly creak open, he repeated that mantra he had all those years ago, when Madara had died, and then later on, when his plan to resurrect him with Rinne Tensei hadn't worked. When he'd failed utterly and he'd wanted to cry at the unfairness of it all, but he wasn't allowed to because he was a shinobi.

_Rule number twenty five: a shinobi must never show tears. Obito, Rin, and Minato don't think you're worthy of being called a shinobi because of your father. So prove them wrong. _

But Obito, Rin, and Minato didn't think that.

The mantra that was supposed to make him not cry made him sob instead.


End file.
